“I’m not nervous,” Buffy repeated to herself as she had several times before this moment.

The trip from Elf territory to Angelus’ kingdom had been smooth and quick. Not quick enough for her while she was actually doing the trip, but now it seemed a little too fast. Nerves she hadn’t realized she had were suddenly making themselves known. In great profusion. 

Oz stood stoic as ever off to her side, the only guard she actually wanted with her at this, the first meeting between she and Angelus in years. Thankfully her childhood friend said nothing, not about her decision and not about her sudden case of nervousness. Just as well, Buffy wasn’t sure she could deal with him if he had. 

Kynan, her father, and several dozen of the Elfin Nobility were traveling a day behind her. The wedding was a huge deal and everyone wanted in on it. Invitations had been sent to only a handful of the thousands of citizens, though, more because Buffy didn’t want her wedding to become a spectacle these events were known to be, than any other reason. 

That hadn’t stopped the celebrations and for all of the three weeks between the agreement and now, every village of every clan held parties, festivals, and sent at least one emissary to the castle with gifts and well wishes. While she appreciated her people’s obvious enthusiasm, she wished they could have been a little less…fervent in their support. Buffy was hard pressed not to sleep in one of the carriages along the way, so little rest had she gotten since her marriage announcement. 

The large double doors to the audience chambers opened then and Buffy took a deep breath and waited to be announced. As the herald rambled off her many names and titles, Buffy’s eyes searched the interior. She hadn’t moved out of the opening yet, couldn’t until she was announced, but wanted to see Angelus. 

He was standing before his throne, hands clasped behind his back, face impassive. His hair was longer than she remembered, the dark locks just brushing his shoulders but his eyes, dark and mysterious, were the same. They locked with hers and Buffy knew, as she looked deeply into those eyes, that she had made the right choice. 

Lust shot through Angelus at his first sight of Buffy in almost a decade.

She was just as beautiful as he remembered but his memory didn’t do her justice. The gown she wore flowed past her hips to the floor, a shimmering green that molded to her upper body, accentuating her curves and made him want to rip it off her and take her against the wall. Or floor, or chair, it really didn’t matter so long as he had her.

“…Of the Order of the Mage.” The herald finished, banging his staff twice before moving off to the side. 

Buffy walked gracefully into the grand, sun drenched room, her gown flowing behind her. The dark green color accented her bronze skin and green eyes; the material was Elfin Silk and whispered against her skin as she moved down the stoned path to Angelus. Her long hair was left loose down her back and fell in soft curls her maid had spent hours fixing. 

Curtsying briefly before the vampire, Buffy straightened, looked him back in the eyes as she smiled and said, “I am pleased to see you again, my Lord Angelus.” 

Angelus nodded, his eyes never leaving hers. “And I you, Princess Buffy,” he replied, bowing from the waist. Raising his eyes to those in the room – the herald, Oz, William, and several vampiric guards, he added, “Leave us. Now.” 

Everyone turned without protest and left, except Oz. He stood just inside the door and folded his arms across his chest, ignoring Angelus’ scowl and waiting for Buffy. Smiling at her First, she nodded her ascent, knowing Oz, and knowing that he would be literally right outside the doors. 

Angelus still hadn’t moved as he watched everyone leave, his expression unreadable and Buffy was beginning to wonder if she had been wrong and he only agreed to the marriage thing because he wanted her. Granted, she wanted him as well, but she believed they could have more than just the physical. Had she really made the biggest mistake of her life, as everyone seemed to think? Was she forever bonding herself to a vampire, who wanted nothing to do with her after he had her body? 

But then the doors closed firmly shut and he turned his gaze back to her. Though his demeanor said nothing else, his eyes did. The dark depths weren’t screaming with love for her, but Buffy was confident she would one day see that emotion there; no they held admiration, need, lust, a faint sense of trust she was going to work hard to ensure and nurture. Buffy relaxed slightly, and waited for him to speak. 

“I’ve been searching for you,” he began, unclasping his hands from behind his back and walking down the dais to where she still stood. His hand was large and cool as he traced the fine planes of her face, rubbing a thumb over her full lips. Buffy closed her eyes briefly at the contact and found herself leaning into his hand as it cupped her cheek. 

“I was traveling,” she said, not wanting to go into details or reasons. 

“In the mortal realms?” At her nod he asked, “Why? If you are Elfin, why go to the mortal realms?” 

“My mother’s family is from there and I wanted to see what they were like. What had captured my father’s affections so that he agreed to have a child with a human.” Angelus said nothing to her explanation, clearly not caring that she was half-human. Buffy asked instead. “Why were you searching?” 

“You…intrigued me,” came the answer though his actions held more than the simple words. “No one has ever made me feel quite like that and it was such a fast meeting, that first between you and I. You were right, that night, you know, the Watcher’s were coming; they were looking for the demons we fought. They were, however, not the brightest creatures I’ve ever encountered – the Watcher’s not the demons.” 

Buffy chuckled at that, a bright tinkling sound, and Angelus thought he would do anything to hear that laugh again, though he knew her breath was catching in her throat and her heart pounding wildly. “I did try to tell you that. But their lack of understanding is punctuated by their viciousness when killing creatures such as us.”

Angelus moved then, his hands combing through her hair, drawing Buffy closer. He had questions, a thousand of them, about her heritage, about her family, her life before the moment they met that night with the stars shining down on them. About what she’d been doing since that night, where she went, why she refused to spend the night with him. All that could wait, what couldn’t was his need to feel her again, her lips under his, her skin – smooth as the silk she wore – under his fingertips. 

His lips descended on hers then, a possessive yet questing kiss. He plundered her mouth, seeking out all the hidden treasures to be found, reveling in her gasp of need and want, in the way her hands clasped around his wrists just to feel more, to prolong contact. She met him, tangling her tongue with his and Angelus couldn’t believe the lust that shot through his sluggish veins at the feel of her. 

Pulling away, he looked into her eyes, bright with need, and wondered at his own reaction. He felt like a fledging, an untried minion, who was just now learning his place. “Why didn’t you tell me who you were?” And they both knew that he meant at their first meeting. 

“I didn’t know who you were, didn’t know if I could trust you. I was…” Buffy trailed off, wondering how much to tell him. If they were truly going to be bound together, then he needed to know. “I was betrothed to an Elfin lord, a marriage considered the best for the land. I had no wish to marry the man, called the whole thing off, and left the kingdom. My mother’s family, as I said, was human and I went to study them, see what it was about that that had drawn my father to my mother.” 

“And what did you find?” Angelus had yet to release her and wondered briefly at that. 

“That her family had disowned her for having a child without marrying,” Buffy said with a grimace of confused disgust. Marriage certainly wasn’t necessary, in their world, to anything. “She was never talked of, but her story was well known. She was used as a warning to younger generations of the dangers of going against their strict morals and cavorting with strangers. I don’t think even she knew that Father was the Elfin King. All in all, the mortal lands were highly overrated, and the people are dirty, crass, uneducated, and superstitious. No wonder no one ever really goes there.” 

Laughing at that last part, Angelus kissed her again, not able to help himself from doing so. As he again explored her taste, the feel of her mouth under his, Buffy cupped his face, scraping nails lightly over the just-there stubble of his jaw, clenching her hands in his shoulder-length hair and pulling him closer. She broke away on a gasp and took a step back.

“We need to talk first, I think,” Buffy said, wondering how he could arouse her with just a kiss, “About what plans remain, what we expect of each other, and what you expect of this marriage.” 

Frowning, Angelus walked to the windows. Clasping his hands behind his back once more, he shrugged. “What do you want of this marriage?” 

Trying to stem the flow of her hopes and dreams for the union between them, Buffy tentatively walked to him, stopping only once she reached his side. “You were the one searching for me; you were the one who wanted to find the elusive Eliza. And you were the one who agreed to marry me as opposed to making me another of your concubines.”

Swallowing the flash of indecision at that word and wondering what was to happen to those other women and if Angelus wanted them still even after their marriage, Buffy went on. “I think that…I think that we could have a strong…union here. Our kingdoms are already joined, or will be as soon as the ceremony is preformed in three days time. After that you have my body and my loyalty.” 

There was something she was keeping from him but Angelus didn’t know what that was. Something more than the ‘heart’ she hadn’t mentioned in her gifts to him. Which was strange of him to think of, considering he’d never really cared about anyone before, let alone loved anyone. This elf was making him crazy, stirring up emotions Angelus had no experience with. Still, he wanted all of her and if that included her heart and very soul, then he was determined to have those as well.

Buffy, Princess of the Elves, soon to be Queen of Aurelius and his wife, was his and only his. HIS.

“Will you give me those freely, as a part of the ceremony?” He asked, leaning negligently against the stone wall, arms crossed, eyes hooded. “Will you pledge your life and loyalty to me and me alone, will you freely give yourself to me whenever I wish it, for as long as I wish it?” 

This wasn’t going at all as she had envisioned. Granted, her visions of this meeting ranged from Angelus falling at her feet proclaiming his undying love for her to him renouncing his kingdom and the two of them running away to someplace where it was truly only the two of them. There were also several where he simply took her body and discarded her afterwards, content with his concubines, or where the entire wedding ceremony was a setup and Angelus went to war with her father. Buffy readily admitted she had an overactive imagination.

Still, this wasn’t in any of the many scenarios she had carefully played out in her dreams – or nightmares.

His voice was hard, his nonchalant stance belying the keen look in his eyes. Buffy thought that he looked dangerous, deceptive, and ready to pounce at a moments notice. And again she asked herself what she had willingly, eagerly gotten herself into. 

“Is that what you want? Do you want me to renounce my family, my lands, and my heritage? What purpose will that serve, Angelus? What purpose will any of it serve?” 

Oh, goddess, this was a mistake. Turning, Buffy walked away, not wanting to face him when he laughed at her, told her he only agreed to the ceremony because he wanted to fuck her until he tired of her. How had it all gone down hill so quickly? Or had it been doomed from the start and she and her silly dreams made it to be more than it was? 

What a fool she was. 

“I need your loyalty, Buffy.” He said, not moving from his position on the wall, but his voice held a note of urgency and command that stopped her mere steps from him. 

“I need you to give it to me freely so that I know I can trust you. I need it not only because you will rule this kingdom beside be, because I think I need you.” He went on hesitatingly, wondering at this need to tell her things he had yet to fully understand himself. Maybe he wasn’t as unaffected by her as he tried to convince himself if he could crumple like this the first sign she was going to leave him. 

“For years you’ve haunted me and we only met that once. I am Angelus, Ancient and Master of this kingdom, strongest of the Vampire Continuum, and feared throughout all the lands. Once this marriage is preformed you will be the first and only weakness I have and all my enemies will know that. If I don’t have your loyalty, your unswerving dedication to me and me alone, then we should call the whole thing off now.”

“Why did you look for me for all those years? Why bother? Why agree to this marriage?” 

“I don’t know, I truly don’t,” He would not go to her, needing her to come to him, but he answered honestly anyway. “I had to; it was something that I needed to do, something that wouldn’t let me go otherwise. You’ve haunted me for years and finally, when I had almost found you again, I couldn’t let you go.” 

Buffy turned then, and studied the vampire before her. It was her choice and she understood that; if she refused him he would let her leave and not declare war with her father. Angelus was a proud being, though, and Buffy wondered what would happen to him, what he would do, if she did leave.

That wasn’t nearly as big a question as could she leave him? And the answer to that was an unequivocal ‘No.’ 

She couldn’t, she wasn’t sure even before his speech if she would have made it to the doors. And Buffy knew she was in way too deep if, on this their second meeting, she was so far immersed in him she couldn’t leave. What happened in the future, should this not be what they both envisioned? 

Could she walk away then? And again, the answer was no. Never. Angelus had had her from their first meeting when neither knew the other past the mutual pleasures of the flesh. And Buffy knew, as she knew her own heart, that that connection was only going to get stronger over time. 

Walking the three steps that separated them, Buffy kissed his lips once, softly and said, “I pledge to you my life, my body, my loyalty, my trust, forever more.” 

“Yes,” Angelus replied and pulled her to him, crushing her body to his as he crushed her lips with his. This kiss was desperate, a need to reaffirm what they had only just discovered. 

Pulling away, refusing to take her in the Great Hall despite his earlier thoughts on the matter, Angelus said, “We have three days before the ceremonies. And a lot of…catching up to do.” 

He took her hand, his smoldering eyes promising her unimaginable delights, his meaning clear, and Buffy nodded. “Yes, we certainly do.” 

As they walked down the long corridor, neither noticed Oz trailing behind them. The guard took his promise seriously; he’d protect Buffy everywhere she went, even if it was to stand outside their private chambers. 

He hoped the doors were thick enough so he didn’t hear the inevitable screams of passion.
**********  
The room was beautiful. 

Large and airy, with floor to ceiling windows and lush rugs covering the stone floor, a fireplace adorned one side of the room and a bookcase took up another wall, opposite. The huge four-poster bed with its velvet hangings, silk sheets, and mass of pillows, however, was definitely the centerpiece of the room.         

Buffy looked around the room once, noting the connecting doors and furnishings before wandering to the window. The view was spectacular, opening onto a grassy knoll that sloped gently down into a grove of trees. She wanted to ride over that hill and through those woods and loose herself in the beauty of the forest, Angelus by her side, wind whipping around them, only the two of them. 

She had a lot of fantasies, actually, that involved the two of them and couldn’t wait to put them all into reality. 

Angelus watched her through half closed eyes, wondering at both her reaction and his. He had had dozens of beautiful women, hundreds; but this one elf drew him like nothing else. She had obsessed him from the moment he had first laid eyes on her, had spent years trying to find her, that one frantic coupling not nearly enough to sate the lust that raced through him at the sight of her.

Now that she was his Angelus found himself unwilling to mess up whatever lay between them. Just because he had no idea what that was, didn’t matter; it had driven him for years and now that it was all within his grasp, Angelus was determined to keep a firm hold on it. He wanted to know everything about Buffy, things she had never told anyone and would only tell him, he wanted to introduce her to all the carnal pleasures he knew and wanted her to crave them only from his hands, his body, his tongue and mouth. 

A bolt of fear lanced through him but was quickly shoved aside by the somewhat desperate reminder that once he tired of her he could take any lover he chose. Buffy turned then smiling at him from the opened window sunlight framing her petite body making her hair sparkle in a golden waterfall. 

Other lovers? Maybe in the far, far future and even if he did take another, she was his and would never be allowed to look, let alone touch, another. 

Holding out his hand he watched as she walked gracefully forward to grasp his cooler one with her small warm grip. “It’s a beautiful view, Angelus; you must show me the rest of your kingdom.” 

Nodding in agreement though it was another thing he had never done, show any of his former lovers anything but the inside of a room – not even his private chambers – Angelus somehow found himself smiling, “Anything you want, I shall give you. Jewels, gowns, servants, anything in my kingdom and beyond is yours, anything.” 

Tilting her head to the side in question, for she was already accustomed to such things, Buffy asked, “Yourself? Will you give me yourself?” 

A beat of silence passed then another and Buffy’s smile slipped, replaced with a mask of indifference. She was about to make some flip comment when Angelus reluctantly nodded. 

“I’ll try,” he said, and again wondered at himself, “I have no idea if I can change, even for you, but…” 

That was good enough for Buffy, the promise to at least try. She could work with that and didn’t want to press her luck so early in their relationship. Smiling again, she said, “Good, good.” 

Shaking off the emotionally intimate moment, Angelus encircled her waist with his arm, crushing her body to his and taking her mouth in a quick hard kiss. Physical intimacy was something with which he was familiar. Raising his head he watched her for a moment, just to see her. Her eyes were closed and her lips parted. He wanted her now but wanted her to be aware of every single thing he did to her. 

Then Buffy opened her eyes and smiled shyly up at him and Angelus was struck with a thought he hadn’t before. Innocent. Some tried to play it off, like Darla when she knew she’d done something wrong that would no doubt anger him, but Buffy...Buffy’s innocence radiated off her in waves of honest purity. Her sensuality was one thing, and something that drew him that first night. But this…

This was something that ensnared him completely, this innocent passion, the guileless carnality that he saw in her.

What the fuck had he gotten himself into? He clearly remembered her passion; it was a force to rival his own that night in the mortal realm and there had been nothing innocent or inexperienced about her then.

Reigning in his emotions, something he never thought to do, Angelus tried to think of ways to ease her into his bed, because he wanted her more now then ever, that sweet artlessness, the virtue, all sparked something in him that could only be considered possessiveness. And he tried, even as he acknowledged this possessiveness, not to think on why he was concerned with her feelings at all. 

Buffy beat him to it and it was just as well for the more he thought about it the angrier he became over his own need to please her, to show her that he was worthy of her affection. Pulling his head back to hers, Buffy locked eyes with Angelus and slowly explored his mouth. 

It was a mating of lips and tongue, a slow sexual exploration of only one part of themselves, but they both took their time, not rushing the sensations, the pleasure to be had from a kiss. Her hands smoothed up his chest to tangle in the hair that just brushed his shoulders and Buffy whimpered his name when he moved those talented lips across her jaw to her neck. 

He sucked her pulse point there, clamping the skin hard between his blunt teeth before moving on. Angelus pulled back then, smirking at her moan of loss and led Buffy to the bed. He carefully undid the laces along her back holding the gown together and let the soft material fall from her body to puddle on the floor. 

She wore nothing underneath, bare to his touch and gaze, all for him. Nothing but silk stockings he wanted to feel as the only thing separating their skin and matching green ankle-high boots. Whatever fragile hold on his control Angelus might have had snapped at the sight of her perfect body; skin a bronze that signaled her elfin heritage, breasts full and round, nipples hardened and begging for his attention, flat stomach, rounded hips, toned thighs…Angelus lifted her out of the pool of material and crushed her body to his, kissing her fiercely. 

Gone was the tender lover of a moment ago and in his place was a man ruled by his passions; passions that he’d suppressed, it seemed, until Buffy. Dimly he felt her nimble fingers on his shirt, but he focused only on tasting all the nuances of her breast not noticing when she ripped the fabric in her haste to remove it from him. He grunted and released her for a fraction of a second and shrugged out of the ruined material. 

He laid her on the bed, following her down as he continued his exploration. Her breast was exchanged for the other one and Buffy again tangled her hands in his hair, pulling him closer as his tongue swirled around the globe, tasting every inch. Licking down her ribs, nibbling across her stomach, his hands somehow locked with hers. 

An anchor to the maelstrom of their passion? Angelus neither cared nor wanted to think on it further, all he knew was that Buffy was finally under him and he never wanted her anyplace else. Except maybe over him, riding him hard and fast as she took him deep into her body. 

A growl escaped his lips, rippling across her flesh and Buffy’s breath caught, her hips lifting higher in desperate need. But Angelus, now that he had her where he wanted her, wasn’t to be rushed. “Open your eyes, Buffy,” he commanded and waited a long minute as she complied. 

“Do you know,” he asked releasing one of her hands to slip his along her stomach, to a teasing stop right above her curls. “How many times I’ve dreamed about this? What I wanted to do to you, show you, all the ways I’ve wanted to have you?” 

Her green eyes darkened further with lust and mindless need and all Buffy could do was nod in agreement. Words refused to form though they bubbled through her mind, fantasies and dreams of her own. Angelus slipped a finger into her hot wet core then and Buffy gasped, forgetting what it was she had been thinking. 

Angelus added a second digit and a third, his eyes intent on her face, her reactions. She was so responsive to him and Angelus wondered, with a flash of jealously, if she was like this for all her lovers. Didn’t matter, he’d kill them all anyway…and never let her have another but him so long as she lived. 

Suddenly her orgasm ruptured through her and Buffy opened her mouth in a silent scream, nails digging into Angelus’ shoulders hard enough to draw blood. Ruthlessly he drove her up again, watching with pure male satisfaction as his name fell from her lips in a constant chant. The gleam in his eyes would have angered Angelus had he known it was there, that look that said everything she did, was, was solely for him…everything.

Withdrawing his fingers, Angelus waited until she opened her eyes to lick them clean, noting with approval how her gaze riveted to the action. “So much to learn about you, my little elf, so much to teach you,” he said as he swiftly undid the ties to his pants, shucking off his shoes to stand naked before her. 

He was rock hard and aching to bury himself in her delicious heat. His eyes, already black with passion, darkened further as Buffy drew her knees up, resting her feet flat against the mattress. There she lay; spread open for him, just for him, and that selfish, possessive streak flared through him once more.

In one graceful move, Angelus crawled over to her, covering her with his body and thrust into her. He roared in completion, in the feeling of wholeness that spread through him even as Buffy screamed his name. 

Withdrawing from her body, Angelus thrust back in quickly, faster, his movements telling of the uncontrollable need he felt for the woman under him. His face shifted but Buffy continued to kiss him around the fangs that wanted nothing more than to taste her enchanting blood once again. 

He didn’t though, and that effort of will cost him whatever control he still possessed. But he wouldn’t drink from her as he pumped into her one last time, roaring his climax. Collapsing atop her, Angelus knew he wouldn’t drink from her no matter the cost of restraint to him. 

The exchange of blood – without turning a being – was as sacred as vampires ever were about anything and not something to enter into lightly. It was addicting, both the bite and the tasting, often causing one’s orgasm to trigger simply from that act. 

And it was permanent. As in once done, it bonded the two in ways very few ever knew… or ever wanted. While it might take every ounce of control he possessed to not taste Buffy again, Angelus was determined to not do so. He wouldn’t turn her, couldn’t elves couldn’t be turned into vampires, their magicks prevented that from happening. And he was unsure if he wanted them to be connected so intimately. So permanently.  
~~~~~~~~~
“There’s something you should know about Elfin Ceremonies, Angelus,” Buffy said later as she stretched under a ray of sunlight. It had been a long while since she’d indulged in her passions, since the night she met Angelus, and her body was not fully accustomed to the pleasures her lover showed. They lay entwined on the bed, Buffy sprawled overtop him, her fingers tracing nonsense patterns over his smooth cool chest. 

Looking at his soon to be wife and life-mate Angelus couldn’t resist the urge to touch her in return, and rested his hand on her back and slowly caressed the smooth skin there before moving lower. “What’s that?” 

“They’re permanent. And, ah…connected, mentally.” That was a really bad explanation, but Buffy was distracted by his hand, which had now moved to the insides of her thigh tracing slow circles on the flesh there. 

“Mentally?” He asked laughter evident in his voice as he trailed his mouth down her neck, sucking on a patch of skin. “You’re not making any sense, Buffy.” 

“Ah, stop that, then,” she said, scooting across the huge bed so she could think. Shaking her head once, Buffy tried again even as Angelus reached for her. “You can’t break an Elfin Marriage. Blood is exchanged and vows and once given they can never be revoked. When one mate dies, the other still lives but their immortality is taken; they age like a mortal creature until death reunites the mates in the afterlife.” 

Damn she knew she shouldn’t have said anything, from the look on Angelus’ face, but felt it best to be as honest as possible; if he found out later, what would he think of her? “We can…” her heart wanted to break from her next words but Buffy refused to show emotion, determined to keep this even. She’d cry later, when it was only her. 

“We can have the priestess change the vows; the only people who usually hear her anyway are going to be you and I. And she’s under oath to never reveal anything that goes on between a bonded pair.” 

Angelus’ hand hung in midair for a moment longer as her words penetrated his lust filled brain. That was something he hadn’t been aware of. Up until Buffy admitted what elfin ceremonies were like, he had been focused completely on getting the beautiful woman into his bed, everything else be damned. Cursing himself for a fool, Angelus was about to agree to the changing of the vows when he remembered what went on in a vampire ceremony. 

Fuck. 

“Vampire ceremonies are permanent as well,” he finally admitted, “But there are two levels to them. The first,” he continued slowly as if afraid to admit this. And in truth he was wary. Angelus had never before contemplated a mate; this was all new territory. 

Maybe he should have looked into it more before agreeing to all this. 

“The first is a basic vow, binding the two together in the eyes of witnesses and each other. Blood is never exchanged as the act of it, the biting and tasting, becomes addictive.” 

He watched her with hooded eyes, but Buffy’s expression never wavered so he finished, “The second is forever as well, binding the bodies together through blood and sex; meaning that every time we made love,” his choice of wording was strange to him but he was willing to make one or two concessions for Buffy…until she grew to understand him. Wouldn’t do to have her leave now, he’d only have to hunt her down and then any willing capitulation on her behalf would be ruined.

Wait, why did he care again? 

“I would drink from you,” he said, ignoring that annoying little voice in the back of his mind, “Causing you to climax solely from that. There’s more to it then that but everything varies from pair to pair.” 

“That’s similar to our ceremony, yes. In the Elfin Marriage Ritual, blood is exchanged, binding the pair physically and mentally, our bodies as one, or minds to each other’s. We would be able to, over time and with practice, to sense each other’s minds, feelings, and emotions. And, I’m told,” she continued shyly, “That once fully bonded, sex between the pair becomes much more, ah, pleasurable. 

He said nothing to that and Buffy asked, “You were thinking the first ceremony, weren’t you?” 

“Yes,” he admitted, still watching her, wondering what she was getting at. Then he realized, “It wouldn’t be official. That ceremony isn’t permanent, not for us, for our kingdoms, with no mark stating you’re mine, any claim I have on you wouldn’t be binding…fuck.” 

It was said in a flat voice as if he didn’t care but Buffy knew he did. He hadn’t wanted to permanently join with her, and while she could honestly understand that, it hurt, oh how it hurt to hear the words. 

“There’s no choice then,” he said, resigning himself to the fact that he would just have to go through with it, and he hated when there wasn’t another choice. At least when there wasn’t another choice for him. “Is there?” 

Buffy shook her head, knowing that he was going to back out now. All her dreams crumpled before her but she smiled softly anyway, refusing to let it get to her. She had another wonderful memory to hold close to her of him and if that was all she had, it had to be enough. Much as she hated to leave Angelus when they’d just found each other again, she didn’t think she’d be able to stay here. Not with him so close yet so far from her; maybe she’d visit the Kingdom of the Dragons and Beasts again. She enjoyed herself there, maybe she could forget the pain her heart was already beginning to feel. 

“No,” she said as she made to climb out of the bed. She refused to have him send her away, she’d be the one to leave; pride demanded it. “I guess there isn’t.” 

“Good,” he said, smirking at her body before dragging her across the bed to lie atop him, “Then we’ll perform the ceremony in three days time and you’ll be mine forever.” He frowned, as he looked into her eyes, noting the surprise there, the hope. “You didn’t think I’d agree?” 

“No,” Buffy said, shaking her head. “Forever’s a long time and well, we don’t know each other that well and…” 

All things he had previously thought of, granted, but the idea of not living with her, of her being with another, especially that, it was too much to bear. And, since Angelus wasn’t used to denying himself anything, this was how it was to be. If things didn’t work out there had to be ways around the binding, there usually were. 

“It doesn’t matter, Buffy, I spent years looking for you and by all the powers of now and beyond you will be mine. Mine and no one else’s and that’s all there is to it.” His smirk was back, “Besides, I already tasted that delectable blood of yours when I had you the first time, so we already started down this path.”

To prove his words, Angelus wrapped his hand in her hair, bringing her closer for a kiss, hungrily devouring her mouth with his. And set out to show her just how much he wanted her. 

He wouldn’t bite her until the ceremony, but for now, this was enough. Three days wasn’t long to wait, he’d already spent ten years looking for her; mere days were nothing.

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