25 Miss Edith Tea Parties to Go… 

“Are you sure, Dru?” 

Drusilla smiled as she stretched out near the fireplace. She loved the house Angelus chose for them, the rooms were so big and there were so many of them. The fireplace here was the best feature at the moment, and even though fire was dangerous to vampires, it also attracted them. 

Everyone wanted what was most dangerous to them. 

“Yes, the stars all say so and the moon, she bleeds, my Angel. Oh, how she bleeds.” Dru sighed as she stood to drape herself over her Sire. His strong arms caught her easily, and Drusilla kissed him passionately. He returned the kiss, but Dru knew it was one of their last. For soon the slayer would live here, and soon her daddy would rule over all he could see. And then some. 

“The wind weeps for our family, but cannot change its direction. They will find IT soon, and soon IT will be ours.” 

Angelus smiled, settling on the couch and bringing Dru between his knees. He didn’t need to tell her what he wanted; she easily slipped to the floor, her thin, frail hands quickly working the snap to his pants, carefully bringing his ever present erection out. 

“And Spike?” The master vampire asked as his childe looked up at him, her mouth already encasing his cool cock. 

Releasing him, Dru continued to let her hands wander over the cool steel. “He seeks to betray you, daddy, but does so only for you. He believes the slayer is your downfall, he does not realize she is your sky.” 

“Good,” Angelus nodded, indicating she return to her previous activity. 

So Spike was going to try and take him down, Angelus thought as Drusilla’s cool mouth sucked and nipped at him. But he was doing it out of a misplaced sense of loyalty. Well, Angelus could live with that. And he could let Spike live as well. The elder vampire already knew that his grandchilde hated his lack of position, but thought that that was more because of Angelus taking over and taking Dru, rather than anything else. 

It was somehow gratifying to learn that Spike knew his place and yet wanted things to return to the way they were. With the three of them pillaging their way through the world. Darla always made a wonderful and amusing fourth, but his dear sire was long dead. Angelus spared a moment to lament that and his role, however unintentional that was, in her death. 

It was worth it, because Darla would never be able to play well with Buffy, and Angelus would never have let his Sire harm his Mate (love, lover). His Queen. Their time was rapidly approaching, and the master vampire still had plans to fulfill. He might need to alter them slightly with the information Drusilla just provided, but he could do that. 

He was nothing if not…flexible.
~~~~~~~~~~
“Me and some of the other guys on the team,” Cameron said as he watched her profile, “We come out here once a week to train in it. See, we swim against the current.” 

Swim against the current, the story of her life. Buffy didn’t realize she’d spoken aloud until the words were already out of her mouth. “Funny, that’s how I feel most of the time.” 

Oh, God, don’t think about that. She was, once again and against her better judgment, out with her friends. A part of her realized that this was the perfect hunting ground for Angelus, but another part of her hated to put so many innocents in danger just because she was there. Angelus rarely did anything that wasn’t somehow directed to her. 

“So, Cameron Walker,” change the subject, change the subject, “You just won the state semifinals. What are you going to do next?” 

Cameron smiled and leaned in slightly closer, “I’m going to hang out with Buffy Summers. Get to know her.” 

Oh, bad idea. Didn’t he read the newspaper? Listen to school gossip? Buffy looked down for an instant and wondered how to get him to leave before Angelus somehow found out he’d talked to her…because he always found out, and it was only a matter of time before he knew about this, too. “Hey, pause that tape for a second.” 

That was just stupid and did it really come out of her mouth? Geez, all her social skills were long gone, she no longer could even see the Buffy Summers who could talk with anyone about anything because she was Miss Social Butterfly, and that was just her life.

“Hey, no pressure,” he assured her, “I just like being around you. That’s all.” 

Great, Buffy thought as she somehow found herself agreeing to have Cameron pick her up the next morning for school. How’d she get involved in this? It was bad enough she let her friends talk her into going out several times when all she wanted to do was sit home and veg (hide), but something always happened. 

(If we had but world enough and time, this coyness lady were no crime.) 

(Soon, my love, we’ll be together soon.) 

(Gan mhoill, a ghrá mo chroí.)

Didn’t they remember that? She was like this walking magnet, and Angelus was always there to see the results and get all vampire-jealous on her. 

Or maybe that was on the guys she actually talked to.

And yet somehow she still found herself saying ‘Yes, thanks, Cam, I’d love a ride to school tomorrow.’ 

What was wrong with her? And why was she letting the happy, grinning faces of Cordelia and Willow egg her on? She knew better than that, Buffy was sure she did, but she agreed, taking the congratulatory smiles from her friends and wondering why she felt sick inside. 

(Because Angelus was going to be mad. (Protecting her.)  Mad at her, mad at Cam. Because Angelus was going to do something to Cameron, no matter what Buffy did or didn’t do, Angelus knew. (Gan mhoill, a ghrá mo chroí.) He always knew. (The slayer is mine, she’s always been mine, she always will be.) Because Angelus didn’t like it when she talked to others, let alone the boys who tried to flirt with her. (“That’s why you keep my flowers until they’re wilted and dead. That’s why you look at the drawings I do of you every night before you go to bed. That’s why you wear the jewelry I give to you.”) Angelus considered her his and Buffy was in no position to argue that…she wasn’t sure she wanted to.) 

And then look what happened. 

Was it her fault she was just protecting herself? No, and, though Buffy didn’t voice this aloud, was it her fault she was simply seeing to the guy’s life? If Angelus found out about Cameron, he’d kill the swimmer in an instant. Buffy couldn’t have that, not another death on her already overburdened conscience; she’d already broken down once, she couldn’t afford to again. Buffy wasn’t sure she’d survive again. 

So she made excuses and tried to babble her way out of the crushing guilt that made it difficult to breathe. 

(Don’t think about it, Buffy, don’t think about it, just breathe, try to make it through the next minute…good, now the next one, and the next. See, not that hard; and just because you have this gut feeling that everything’s coming to a head, and that Angelus is up to something major, doesn’t mean you can’t breathe.) 

God, just breathe. 

“Thank you for taking an interest,” Giles muttered, and wondered if his slayer truly had cracked. “Apparently, some remains were found on the beach this morning. Some human remains.”

Willow nodded and added, “Dodd McAlvy’s remains,” in case Buffy worried that Angelus somehow had something to do with Dodd’s death. 

Oh, God, Buffy thought, was he there last night? She hadn’t sensed him and all her senses were always on full focus for Angelus. 

(‘Soon, my love’ the note read and Buffy dreaded what that meant. Did it mean soon he’d finally tire of the game and kill her, or that soon he’d finally do something else? Buffy didn’t know, and every time she tried to work through the puzzle that was Angelus, nothing ever came of it but more confusion, and a hefty denial of the things she’d rather not understand. Please, she prayed, please let me be strong. But she wasn’t feeling strong, in fact, she knew she was weaker today than she was yesterday, and even though there were no more gifts, the roses still arrived every single day, and Buffy knew he watched her and…breathe, Buffy, just… breathe…) 

“Vampire?” Not Angelus, not Angelus, not Angelus, please not him… 

“No. No,” Giles hastened to reassure her as his thoughts paralleled hers when it came to the Master Vampire. “He was eviscerated. Nothing left but skin and cartilage.” 

Not Angelus then, Buffy thought and somehow breathed a sigh of relief. Whatever else it was, she could handle it, but she knew what the others were just beginning to suspect. 

She couldn’t handle (mate, lover, love, mine, forever) Angelus.
~~~~~~~~~~
Buffy wearily sat in the Bronze and watched, trying her best not to think of the lyrics of the song the snoozing DJ played. 

If you’d listen, we wouldn’t have to go through this
If you’d just let me finish / Stop cuttin’ and jumpin’ ahead
Yeah, if you’d just shut your pretty mouth / You’d save yourself some tears

“Please change the song,” she muttered. But the DJ didn’t hear her, and probably didn’t care about her plight, either. 

If the swim team’s deaths weren’t vampire – Angelus – related, then what were they? She hadn’t really had to fight anything big in a while; Angelus took care of most of the big bads. And did she really just think that? Oh God, Buffy thought as her stomach sank, and whatever she had managed to eat today threatened to make a return appearance. 

She actually just acknowledged that Angelus was…taking care of her. (You killed for me. Yes. Why? You were in danger.) No, no, that was wrong. He wasn’t, Buffy assured herself when she knew it to be true. Angelus was not taking care of her, he was haunting her and hunting her, and taunting her, and he was not seeing to her safety. 

Because the moment she admitted that, the second she truly, fully, acknowledged that her ex-vampire lover was seeing to her safety (Because you were in danger), her entire world collapsed. Buffy lasted the weeks since Angelus killed that Interstate Demon, or whatever it was, in a serious state of denial. He hadn’t killed it for her; he’d killed it because the demon was a threat to his power here in Sunnydale. 

She knew that was a lie. Buffy knew that Angelus spoke the truth about that, and that he’d killed the goo-demon because that demon wanted her dead. And Buffy knew that the rest of what Angelus said was truth, too. He’d kept Sunnydale free from outside influence because he wanted nothing harming her. 

And the humans he killed were all in someway related to her. Buffy felt a tear slip down her face as she finally faced everything that she already knew and admitted it and acknowledged it and…why? 

Didn’t he know she had no interest in those others? Didn’t he know that she only talked to them because they talked to her, first? That if she had her way she’d go through the rest of this nightmare mute just so no one else got hurt or killed (slaughtered)? 

Why, why, why? Was she being punished for her love of Angel, was she being punished for somehow failing in her duty as slayer and loving a vampire, instead of immediately staking him? It was her fault, and Buffy knew that it was, but did her punishment have to extend to so many others? 

Sniffling the rest of her tears back behind the careful façade that had become her life, Buffy smiled at her friends, forcing her attention to remain on Gage Petronzi, the third-best swimmer on the team, and the most likely next item on the menu of whatever was causing this. And oops, there he goes, and she wasn’t even paying attention.  

This was somehow all Angelus’ fault, Buffy thought as she raced to stop Gage from leaving, or well, leaving without her, and was she just asking Angelus to kill him? 

“Obviously, my sex appeal is on the fritz today, so I’ll just give it to you straight. There’s something lurking out there, and it’s making fillets of the populace, and I think you might be next.” 

Gage didn’t look convinced, and Buffy wondered at the value of honesty. “Uh-huh. And you think that because?” 

“Oh, well, it’s already attacked. It’s already killed some people.” 

Gage just shook his head and turned from her, obviously not believing her honesty. Wasn’t that just typical? She so needed to work on some really convincing lies. “You’re one twisted sister, you know that? Cam told me about your games. Go find someone else to harass.” 

Striding out of the Bronze, Gage didn’t even notice there was someone else in the alley when he mumbled, “What a psycho bitch, man.” 

Angelus walked out from behind the pile of crates he was using as cover to drain the whore that interrupted his nightly Buffy Watch. Lucky for her, he finished just in time to witness that little scene, and her death wasn’t as prolonged as this boy’s was about to be. 

“You’ve gotta be talking about Buffy,” he said as he detached himself from the shadows and walked behind the boy. Dead boy, so going to be dead. 

The boy stopped and turned to face the semi-familiar stranger and wondered, “How’d you know?” 

Angelus hardened at the thought, but simply said, “She and I…had this thing once. Biggest mistake of my life,” he nodded with a smile but couldn’t stop the quickening of his blood. Yes, big mistake, big mistake in not turning her immediately, in not chaining her to his bed the night he’d reverted to his soulless form… 

Snorting in agreement, the boy nodded, “Yeah. My condolences, dude.” 

Angelus followed him, not letting his prey out of his sight, unlike his little slayer who simply let the boy walk into Angelus’ arms. “She’s a real head-tripper.” 

“Tell me about it,” Gage shook his head in disbelief, glad to have his suspicions confirmed about his coolness – Buffy’s ex was older, more experienced, so the rumor went, and talking to him – and about the psycho-ness of Buffy. “Girl acts like she’s God’s gift or something.” 

Angelus crept closer, and mused as he eyes Gage’s neck, “Who is she? The Chosen One?” 

‘Don’t they learn? Honestly, don’t they ever learn?’
‘No, haven’t you figured that out by now? They don’t. Now, do you want to hear the rest?’
‘Yes, Uncle, of course.’
‘Then be quiet and let me finish.’ 

“Exactly,” Gage nodded unaware of the double entendre and the danger he was in. 

“You know,” Angelus said seductively as he moved closer, “What she really needs is for someone to really knock her down a few notches.” And underneath him, Angelus concluded as his cock hardened more at the thought of her. 

“Yeah, that’d be sweet. Anyone in mind?” 

“You’re in luck, my friend,” Angelus nodded as he quickly circled Gage, grabbing him by the throat as he snarled, “Even though she needs taking down a notch, boy, that’s my job not yours. And a job I intend to do to the very fullest. You, on the other hand, get to die. Slowly and as painfully as I can imagine. And I can imagine quite a bit.” 

Angelus grabbed the swimmer and swiftly bit into the boy’s thick neck, already planning how he was going to lay this present out for his slayer, and a new poem to go with the new body. He ignored the boy’s shouts, it really only made everything that much sweeter, and continued his planning.  

His beautiful planning was interrupted, not when Buffy ran out of the Bronze in search of Gage, but when the horrid taste of the swimmer’s blood finally registered through the sexual haze that usually surrounded Angelus whenever he thought of Buffy (lover, mate, queen). 

Dropping Gage in an inelegant heap on the ground, the vampire spit out the boy’s blood. Wiping his mouth, and spitting some more, he turned to face Buffy just as she raced around the corner. She kicked him in the face, but Angelus only had eyes for her and didn’t so much as flinch. 

“Why, Miss Summers,” he purred as she assumed the attack stance and actually looked like she was going to fight him. “You’re beautiful!” 

And she was, but now wasn’t the time to indulge in the myriad of fantasies he planned on enacting in the very near future. Quickly bending down, Angelus picked the boy who dared talk to – and perversely reject – his slayer, and threw him at Buffy, still spitting the foul blood of the boy out of his mouth. What was the swimmer taking, Angelus wondered as he left, smiling at the sight of Buffy quickly scrambling out from under the swimmer. 

“Ah, my dear,” he whispered into the night as he melted into the shadows, “You learn fast. Don’t touch the boys,” he chided, as he jumped onto the nearest rooftop, watching the rest of the scene unfold below him. “Don’t talk, don’t touch, don’t breathe. It’s bad for their health, lover.” 

“Shut up,” she whispered back, heartbreak, hopelessness…need in her voice.  

“Was that the thing that killed Cameron?” 

“No,” Buffy sighed. as she closed her eyes to the tears that threatened. “That was something else.” 

Angelus snarled as she walked the boy home, still spitting out the foul taste of the boy’s blood. He was awaiting her when she finally arrived home that night, though he didn’t say anything. Taking his customary place across the street, he waited to see what she’d do. There were a lot of things she should do, but Angelus had a feeling his beautiful little darling wasn’t going to conform to his wishes.  

There was a gift waiting for her this time, and Buffy looked at it in trepidation as her gaze automatically searched the shadows for her lover/stalker/protector/enemy. 

Opening the carefully wrapped package, Buffy closed her eyes for a moment before looking down at the gift in her hands. Nestled inside the cloth, lay two beautifully made chopsticks, much like the ones she wore this night. These weren’t the utilitarian wood ones Buffy used for vampires, but opulent gold ones with onyx and rubies spelling out ‘Forever’ along the length. 

A slight sob escaped Buffy, and for a moment her eyes met the dark ones across the street.

Would Angel have given things like this to her, the slayer wondered as she carefully undid her hair and replaced the wooden chopsticks with these. Would he have showered her with things like this, with gifts and flowers, and drawings and jewelry? 

Forever, the chopsticks said, forever.  

Buffy would never know, she realized as she adjusted her necklace so the jewel hung between her breasts, she’d never know. Because her sweet loving Angel was never returning to her, and she knew she didn’t deserve that, anyway. He was never returning because she didn’t deserve that, didn’t deserve him and oh, please let him be at peace. He deserved nothing less; the sins of the demon had nothing to do with the innocent beauty of the soul. 

Please let him be safe, Buffy prayed as she watched the shadows across the street before turning from the demon that would haunt her dreams tonight, as he had every other night since returning (to her) to power.  

Forever.
~~~~~~~~~~
15 Miss Edith Tea Parties to Go… 

Cordelia sat in the library with Willow, as Xander made a junk food run.  

It amazed her that she was still with this group despite her on-again more likely off-again relationship with Xander, and her intense dislike of everything they dragged her into. It was all their fault, after all, that she knew about icky demons and nasty vampires. And it was Buffy’s fault that Angelus even knew her name! She was so not thinking of the many times she flirted – or tried to, the damn vampire wasn’t receptive – with Angel. Nor was Cordelia going to think on how she wanted the handsome man for herself. Nope, thinking on that at all. 

Then again, Willow, of all people, turned out to be a really good friend, and Cordelia found herself spending time with the often lonely redhead.

With Oz out much of the time on the road with his band, and Xander a complete loser with his pathetic Buffy-obsession and annoyance, and Buffy falling apart at nearly every turn, Cordelia decided that Willow was the best choice for a non-freaky friend. 

So long, as no one found out about it.

And ah, there went Miss About-to-Break now. Giles sent her home for some much-needed sleep – those dark circles under her eyes were so unattractive. And if she was near Buffy when the slayer finally broke, it wasn’t going to be pretty, and Cordelia was sure the fallout would be widespread and hazardous to her health. 

“Willow,” Cordelia commented as the redhead read through some of Miss Calendar’s Wicca books, “Have you noticed the complete lack of evilness around here?” 

Looking up from her book, Willow frowned. “What? You mean other than freaky ghosts,  crazed vampires on the loose, and a slayer who, much as I love her, is about to lose it?” 

Looking at the geek in a new light, Cordelia mentally re-outfitted Willow and maybe lightened her hair, and decided that all would not be lost. “Well, yes. But what I meant was that nothing and no one but Angelus is any major threat to Buffy. Which is just as well, as our one hope of actually winning against any of them is, as you say, losing it.” 

“No, no,” Willow disagreed, already regretting her words against Buffy. “There’s plenty of evil in Sunnydale.” Then, “But what makes you say that?” 

“Hmm?” Looking up from her neglected homework, Cordelia shrugged. “Everything Buffy does is in reaction to Angelus. There’s no other demon or major vamp out there who’s threatening me…us. So why is that?” 

“Don’t know,” Willow admitted and wondered at Cordelia’s observations. But then Xander returned and Giles emerged from his office and the conversation was forgotten.
~~~~~~~~~~
Zero Miss Edith Tea Parties To Go… 

There was a reason he wanted to awaken Acathla, and it had nothing to do with destroying the world. 

Okay, well, yes, it did. But it had more to do with bringing the world under his control, control that would extend past the boundaries of this pathetic plane and more power than anyone could possibly imagine. 

Angelus counted on Drusilla’s vision about Spike letting Buffy know where they were, and he counted on his sweet slayer to rescue her watcher. Honestly, did Ripper really believe he had enough power to resoul the vampire? Whether Rupert did or not, Angelus wasn’t taking the chance and took the watcher as hostage. 

His first. 

He had others rounding up the remaining hostages – Joyce, Willow, Xander, Cordelia, and Oz – in anticipation of the next round. The final round.

Acathla’s power was about to flow into this world, and into Angelus, the only being capable of holding the demon’s energy. It was going to imbue the vampire with everything and anything and he was going to be all. 

“Hello lover,” she said and Angelus smiled, even as he groused how he didn’t have time for this.  

He owned time, or was about it, so what difference did it make? 

“I’ll see you in hell,” he promised with a grin even as they fought, Acathla already awakening and reviving, and gathering. 

“You first,” she snarled, her heart breaking, and Angelus could smell the hopelessness on her and the fear and the despair and the aching love that she could never quite figure out if it belonged to Angel or Angelus, soul or demon. 

And then Acathla opened its jaws and breathed. 

With renewed energy, Buffy fought Angelus back towards Acathla, exactly where she needed him to close the portal, and exactly where he needed to be to gather the energies already coming from the stone demon. She knew what she had to do and was determined to let nothing stop her… 

Except she was too late, and Acathla’s jaws widened, magick thick in the air, running over her skin, through her body; and suddenly, just as she was about to use her advantage to thrust her blessed sword through Angelus, thus closing the gateway, the handsome demon was caught in something. Was this some trick? Something, just one more thing, to throw her off? 

The vampire screamed, a piercing sound that echoed throughout the world, and Buffy could have sworn, though she never took her eyes off Angelus, that the stone demon behind him…smiled. Energies ripped through Angelus, swirling in crazy circles almost too fast for her to see. And she was paralyzed, frozen, as she watched all this happen. 

It all seemed to be happening faster now, Acathla’s jaws opened wider and wider as if it was, indeed, going to devour the world with its mouth alone. 

Acathla, for its part, just smiled broadly. It had no idea if anyone could see that smile, what with the stone and jaw agape pose it presented; but this was a glorious day, and it was happy. Every ounce of magick it had, all the strength it possessed found, as it was foretold, its way into the worthy demon before it. 

The demon who was meant to rule, the demon who was meant to possess, the demon who was meant to be all. 

The demon, it seemed who was in love with a slayer. 

Wasn’t life full of wonderful ironies? 

Acathla thought so, and as the blue and red energy swirls calmed, as the slayer realized what was happening, screamed her denial and sorrow, her heartbreak and pain, and tried, despite all of that, to move against the magicks surrounding the two of them and ram her blessed sword through the vampire’s chest, sealing Acathla…the stone demon shattered. 

“Nooo! NOOO, GOD NO!” Her shock as the stone demon began to shatter before her eyes was only outweighed by the horror which had instantly surrounded her heart. This couldn’t be happening: was she now the only slayer to ever truly fail the world?

Angelus saw Buffy’s advance and smiled. To the last, his little lover was feisty wasn’t she? He blocked her advancement and took hold of her sword hand, “I guess you weren’t enough babe,” he drawled.

How he’d enjoy the time they were about to spend together. The explosion threw Buffy against the far wall but Angelus remained upright, unconcerned with the shaking, the noise, and the falling rock. He was immune to it after all, as he was a part of it. 

He was it. 

Angelus stalked to his slayer, a smirk dancing around the edges of his mouth, and effortlessly picked her up, carrying her out into the already darkening landscape. Eternal night was about to fall; demons were about to overrun this miserable planet, not only from the depths from which they’d hidden all these long years, but also from another dimension – any other dimension.

Ah, it was glorious. It was beautiful, magickal, and powerful. And it was all his. Angelus, former Scourge of Europe, the only vampire to actually have sex with the slayer and live, the ruler of the Hellmouth, now owned the world. All of them. 

And the slayer, his dearest love, his greatest obsession, was now solely reliant on him. 

“Dru, my dear,” he shouted to his childe as she crouched in awe in the corner Buffy had thrown her, Spike nowhere to be found. “Come along, we’ve a new world to see and rule.” He paused for a moment in his stride, just long enough to ensure the changes on his house.

Gone were the simplicity of the rooms, the grand hallway, the courtyard. In their place were rooms the size of football stadiums, a castle that spread over most of a town that was rapidly being overrun by its very own Hellmouth. All with a thought did these changes occur, with the simple power of Angelus’ will, strong as it was, did the new ruler of the world change the place in which he lived. In which he planned on ruling the Hellmouth and the world, in which he planned on keeping his slayer. 

“No more Miss Edith Tea parties to go,” whispered Drusilla. “Now its daddy’s party,” she giggled.  

Turning towards the stairs without a backwards glance at his childe, Angelus walked purposely towards his rooms. Their rooms. With another simple thought, Angelus decorated the room, refining several things instantly as he surveyed them in his mind’s eye. A place for Buffy and the things he was going to give her, a balcony for her to survey their lands, a bed, extra large and soft, luxurious in the extreme, with the added necessity of manacles just for his feisty love. 

The beginning was going to be fun, granted, but it was the rest of time he was looking forward to. The time when he put into motion his plans, all his plans, for her…and her friends. Eternity. 

“And Dru,” he said as he turned right, down a long corridor, “Don’t forget to round up the collateral.” He knew Dru smiled her acceptance – she had better, that was for sure – and continued down the hall, his precious burden nestled comfortably in his arms. 

“My star is born,” she whispered to the empty room as she went to do her daddy’s bidding. 

He, Angelus of Aurelius, Scourge of Europe, and Master of everything in Sunnydale and now the world, who had taken the Slayer as a lover, would rule over all of them. 

Who said life wasn’t grand?

Part 9        Chapter 2: The Deal

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