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The Road To Recovery
by TJ
Part One - Seven Part Eight Part Nine Part Ten Part Eleven Part Twelve Part Fourteen Part Fifteen Part Sixteen Part Seventeen Part Eighteen Part Nineteen

Part Eight

Feeling refreshed.

Cool arms.

A weight lifted.

Something solid pressed against his back.

He had cried.

Someone in bed with him.

It had felt good, the crying.

Slowly he traced a finger over the small hand that rested on his
chest, touching at the milky white skin. Xander marveled how
smooth it was. The hand was too small to be Angel's, so it must
be Spike in bed with him. Why? Does he want....'that'?

The brunette turned slightly so that he was resting more on his
back, forcing the vampire to shift closer to the wall. A quick
glance and Xander saw that the vampire was awake and looking
straight back at him. The two males lay and looked at each
other for what seemed like hours, each one taking in the planes
of the others face, until the silence was broken by the sound of
Xander kissing the blond. A warm tongue teased its way into a
cool cavern, eliciting a swear from the vampire.

"Pet, don't do that"

Spike pulled away gently, his lips tingling from the fire raging
across them. He was startled that the whelp had kissed him. So
soft and feathery, delicious. The vampire put his hand out to
stop the youth leaning in for another attempt. He took in the
confusion that trekked its way across the young face, kicking
himself for not getting out of the bed when the brunette had
finally fallen asleep. The moaning had gone on for hours, Spike
hadn't realised that the human had had so much stamina.
Throughout the whole time, his Sire had kept coming to check on
them, the last four times bringing a few beers to keep him
occupied. The warm room and the act of just sitting had made
him tired, he had fallen asleep himself only minutes after
Xander had.

"W..what did I d.d..do wrong?"

"Just because I'm here with you, doesn't mean that I want to
shag you, alright?"

The brunette was confused. What other reason could Spike have
for being in bed with him? Wasn't he attractive anymore? What
was wrong with him?

"Why?"

Flabbergasted, Spike had no idea of how to reply to that simple
question. What the hell did he say? The whelp was obviously
just used to shagging whatever he ended up in bed with. He
didn't want to embarass or upset the youth, but he didn't want
to lead the boy on or give him the wrong idea. Xander still
hadn't gotten the idea that he could say no, he was just doing
what he had been trained for for the last three and a half
years.

"Do you remember talking with Fat Barb yesterday?"

"S..sort of, i.i..it's a bit fuzzy. I..I can remember crying
b.but it f..fades out a..a..a..after that"

If Spike didn't want to kiss him, then he would try a different
tack. With one hand, he slowly moved his fingers down his chest
and rested them on his thigh, as close to the other man he could
get without actually touching him.

A sigh and Spike told the brunette about how the therapist had
had to give him a mild sedative. He watched the youths face
closely to see if the knowledge would set him off again. When
it didn't happen, he withdrew his arm from across the warm
chest. The vampire informed him of how he got to be holding the
youth, again checking for any signs of distress.

"Breakfast?"

"Yeah, I.I feel l..l.like I could e.eat a horse!"

Making his move before the vampire got up, Xander quickly gave
the black jeans a few strokes, right along the telltale bulge
that was squeezed into the tight pants. He gasped as he found
his wrist caught in a firm grip, not firm enough to hurt him but
certainly enough to keep his hand away from the vampire's
crotch. Confused chocolate eyes looked into icy blue orbs.

"Xander, don't go there. I won't tell you again"

"B..but, you l..l.liked it before, d.don't you w.w.want me?"

Again, what the hell should he say? The blond was weighing up
his options. This was a tread carefully situation, tread
*extremley* carefully. With Dru, sex usually stopped any stupid
question and solved virtually any arguments and problems that
cropped up. Sex, however, would not be the answer to this little
gem. Yes, he had loved it before, all those years working in
the brothel had given the whelp the ability to provide a handjob
that only Drusilla, his Sire and Darla could surpass. Hell
yeah, he definately wanted another one but the whole situation
was screaming that it was wrong. Normally he wouldn't have
given a stuff about it being wrong, what vamp would, but there
was a nagging feeling of Dru at the back of his mind. A Dru
that was gently shaking a finger at him, telling him he was a
wicked boy for even thinking along those lines.

What if the whelp really was a poof, he didn't want the boy to
get the idea in his head that sex with another male was wrong.
To do that wold just cause a hell of a lot more problems down
the track, ones that he really didn't want to deal with. Ok,
here it goes.

"Look, that time was different. It was a totally different
situation. The Broody Beast and me were playing for the
cameras, no cameras here now so no need to do anything"

"I'ts b..b.because I'm dirty i.isn't it? U.used goods?"

Spike could smell the rising panic on the youth, could see the
small beads of sweat forming on his brow. He still had hold of
his wrist, pretty sure that the moment he let go, Xander would
be trying to cop another feel. The problem with that, was the
vampire was already half hard and just about ready to jerk off
himself.

"No, not that. It's that you don't know what you want yet"

"Oh, I.I see. The w.w..whore can't t.think for h.h.himself"

With a snarl, Spike hastily let go of the tanned wrist only to
be shocked into silence when Xander gently took the vampires
hand and placed it on the outline of his own flaccid penis,
rubbing the cool palm into the soft heat. Two seconds later,
Spike was scrambling out of the bed as fast as he could, his
hard on raging almost beyond control. Stopping to stand just
infront of the open door way, the blond looked back at the
quietly crying brunette and silently swore to himself.

"Your'e not a whore Xander, your'e out of that fucking place and
your'e bloody well free now so cut the shit"

At the boy's violent head shaking, the vampire crossed back over
to the bed, this time choosing the armchair to sit in. He leant
foward to hear the soft words being spoken underneath the sobs.
With one hand, he hesitantly reached out and touched the sweaty
dark hair, pushing damp strands off the shiney forhead.
Sniffing, Spike smelt that the boy was confused more than
panicked, the stale aroma of misery starting to combine with the
confusion. Hearing tuned into the soft words, the blond felt
himself go into game face as he made out what was being said.
The whelp was whispering to himself that he was a whore and
always would be, that he hadn't done anything wrong, was he so
dirty that even a vampire didn't want him?

"I'm j.j.just a h.hole, no. N.Not even t..t.that anymore, t.too
useless. O..only know h.h.h.how to d.do one thing r.r.r.really
well, b.but no-one w.w.wants m.m.me. Too d..d.dirty"

Head shaken at the words, Spike wondered how long it was going
to take for the brunette to start believing that it wasn't true.
At least the vampire didn't have to worry about jerking off
anymore, the self hating words had pretty much deflated him. He
kept stroking the longish hair, slightly amused that the thick
mass had a light curl to it's ends. Dru had curled her hair for
years before going with the straight look just before she had
left him for good. Spike used to love running his fingers
through the tangled mess, Dru breaking her combs and brushes so
that the only way her hair looked half decent was after a Spike
finger brushing.

"DON'T F.F.FUCKING TOUCH M..ME!"

A deflected slap and the vampire was suprised at how quickly the
boy's emotions turned into pure anger. He fought off at least a
dozen more slaps and punches that drove him further into the
confines of the chair, oddly pleased at the strength behind
them.

"If you want to soddin well punch something, I'll take you to
the fucking gym, you don't hit me or anyone else in this place.
No-one except the Brooding Wanker downstairs, got it?"

Xander slowed down his assult towards the blond until his hands
rested on his chest, arms clenced firmly to his sides. Chest
heaving with the sudden effort and anger, he stared up at the
ceiling not daring to look at the other man. Suddenly what the
vampire had said about Angel clicked. Softly he started to
laugh, a tiny smile crossing his face. The brunette turned to
look at the vampire still sitting in the chair beside the bed.
Laughing dying down, he gave the other male a slightly bigger
smile. With a quiet voice, he apologised for hitting Spike who
gave him a sneer and rolled eyes.

"You going to get your arse out of bed? Starved, I am, so I'll
see you downstairs"

"Ok, S..Spike?"

"What?"

"W.why are you b.b..b.being nice to m.me?"

"Becuase I fucking well can"

With that Spike left the room before the brunette could make
another pass at him. Fat Barb sure as hell knew what she was
talking about last night. He had been unwillingly fascinated by
all the things a victim of abuse could go through afterwards.
Mood swings being the most obvious, sexual aggression, self
harm, nightmares, paranoia, denial that it had ever occured.
Lots of other things had been mentioned

"Becuase I fucking well can"

With that Spike left the room before the brunette could make
another pass at him. Fat Barb sure as hell knew what she was
talking about last night. He had been unwillingly fascinated by
all the things a victim of abuse could go through afterwards.
Mood swings being the most obvious, sexual aggression, self
harm, nightmares, paranoia, denial that it had ever occured.
Lots of other things had been mentioned by the therapist. She
had told the group during the first meeting, that Xander and the
other boy's would most likely become aggressive in trying to
re-afirm their sexuality and manhood and for the L.A. men to
resist all attempts on Xanders part to have sex with them. Yet
again, Spike had copped a beating from his Sire for laughing at
the therapist but now, he could say for sure that the old woman
was right. It wasn't that he would actually be looking for sex,
it would be an effort to prove that he could be in control.

The boy wasn't aggresive yet, he had naturally assumed that
Spike had wanted sex with him by being in the same bed.
Hopefully he wouldn't even try it again but Spike wasn't going
to take any chances of leaving the boy alone again, who know's
when he might try it again. God only knew what would happen if
he found a willing recipient for his advances.

Spike found that he didn't have to think about if he was going
to look after the brunette anymore, there was no way anyone was
going to seperate them. Best thing of all was, if he could
wangle it just right, he could get paid by Angel and claim the
carers pension both at once.

Part Nine

Water turned on and shower curtain pulled fully out of the
warming water, Xander carefully stepped into the bath. A wince
at the dull ache in his anus and he wondered just when the
constant discomfort would start to go away. The operation had
been successful, Dr Sawyer had been pleased with the results.
He was now offically tight again. He shuddered as the word
'virgin' bounced around his head, a little sad that the surgeon
hadn't been able to restore that. Oh well, the pain wasn't
really that bad. After all, he had had a lot worse. Still, at
least he could stop shitting himself if he didn't hibernate near
a bathroom constantly.

The liquid soap started to foam as it mixed with the almost
scalding water, little suds making their way down his arm and
tangling with the silver bracelet. He often wondered why the
metal didn't rust or at least tarnish. Spike had told him that
he was now free from the brothel, it migh be true but until he
got the silver chains off his neck and wrists, he and the other
boys would always be slaves. It wasn't as if Angel, Wesley and
Giles hadn't tried their best to get them off, it was that
nothing had worked so far. Spells, incantations, sawing with a
hacksaw, Angel trying to snap them in half, Spike and Angel
pulling in opposite directions.....nothing had worked.

With a small smile, Xander realised that the facewasher was now
totally free from any soap. He reached into the shower caddy
and re-applied the vitamin E liquid to the wet cloth again,
making sure to rub it over his body before it all disappeared
down the drain. Once lathered with the soft smelling suds, he
immersed himself fully into the pounding water, relaxing into
the heat. His smile grew as the taut muscles in his body gave
into the heat, unknotting themselves from yesterday's stress.
Hair thoroughly wet, was shampooed and conditioned then rinsed.

Xander stood under the stream for a few minutes, wondering why
Spike had really pushed him away before. It wasn´t as if the
demon didn't want him. With the few strokes he had given the
other male, he had definately felt hardening. Couldn't have
been the crying, vampires loved to see him cry, most paying
specifically for that. He knew that he kissed well, so it
wasn't that either. Maybe it was just Spike being weird, both
he and Angel weren't the normal vampire types.

The fact that Spike was holding him during his supposed
nightmares didn't really bother him, it just confirmed the fact
that the vampire did want him. Xander thought that the demon
was clever to think of such an excuse as nightmares to justify
his holding of Xander at night. He was flattered that the other
man was interested in him, after all, he was used goods and
pretty filthy. It just wasn't possible for him to go back to
women now, all they would have to do was look at him and they
would know that he was a whore. No woman wanted a man who had
been used in such a way, no matter what Mrs Neal said. If Spike
wanted him, then the vampire was going to get him.

Might have been what he said during his little teary episode?
Xander chewed at his bottom lip, wondering if that was what had
sent the
blond away. He hadn't meant to scare the vampire away. A
sudden wave of lightheadedness swept over him as he remembered
that he had actually lashed out at the other man. But, he had
apologised, surely that wasn't going to discourage the vampire?
Xander felt himself starting to shake, was it possible that he
had just turned off the only person interested in him? A sob
broke through the steam as a tanned brunette sat himself on the
bottom of the bathtub, knees drawn up to his chest. Rocking
slightly, Xander wept into his hands, horrified that he had
displeased the smaller man.

"Oh m..my God! I.I..I raised my v..voice. I'm s.s.sorry, so
s.sorry. Pleeeassse..p.p.please, I'm sorry!"

Stomach gurgling, the brunette felt his abdominal muscles clench
up. Dry retching, he continued to sob and apologise to the non
present blond. He promised that it wouldn't happen again and
that he would be more careful next time. More importantly, he
vowed to make it up to the vampire. Somehow, Xander was going
to make an apology of more than just words.

"I..I promise, I'll b..b.b.be good."

The water was starting to cool down as the hiccuping man wiped
at his eyes. He wrenched the water off fast, hauling himself up
carefully so as not to slip on the slick bath bottom. Xander
slowly stepped on the cool tiles of the bathroom floor. Towel
grabbed, he thoroughly dried himself, applying body lotion from
head to toe. The brunette knew that Cordelia was astounded at
how much sorbelene and glycerin he went through but he didn't
feel clean if he went with out the lotion after a shower. He
had tried to go without a few times but he had only lasted not
even ten minutes before running back into the bathroom to
complete his grooming routine. Xander hated that he felt so
compelled to do it but it was just one of the things that made
him feel nervous if he didn't do it right.

While the lotion was drying, he wiped at the steamed over
mirror. Xander took in his reflection, studying his ever
hairless face. From the day he had arrived at Eternal, he had
never had to shave or get his hair cut again. Wesley had told
him it was probably due to the jewellery, the magical properties
were somehow warping his body and its natural functions. The
brunette focused on the still pink scratches on his face. He
didn't remember clawing at himself but if Spike said that he had
done it, then it must be true. Spike would never lie to him,
after all, the vampire had come back as he had promised. With
those words, Xander felt a wave of guilt flow over him. He was
ashamed that he had raised his voice.

He turned his head from side to side, relieved that there were
only a few scratches and even those weren't too bad. Hair
brushed, Xander turned fast, gasping at a flare of pain in his
rectum. Berating himself, he walked slowly back into the
bedroom and started to dress. Loose fitting navy pants went over
white boxers, a grey marble long sleeved T-shirt clothing his
upper body, his feet remaining bare. After not wearing any
shoes for so long, he found that even runners tended to make his
feet ache after a few hours. Christopher also hated wearing
shoes, only doing so when Cordelia promised a treat.

Xander turned his lamp off on the way out, taking the stairs one
by one instead of bounding down them like he usually did. He
was feeling calmer now that he had had a cry in the shower.
Down to the last few steps, the brunette wondered again as to
why Angel wouldn't get the lift fixed. It had broken down
again, something that it did about every second month
apparantly. Too expensive probably he thought. Cordelia had
been unable to stop laughing when describing the vampire´s face
after the last bill, Wesley and Doyle just nodding along with
big grins of their own. It was nice to be back downstairs, with
no lift and order of no stairs for a few days, he had been
basically confined to his room. Didn't really worry him anyway,
he had just read or listened to the punk rock that shook his
bedroom walls coming from the blond's room from across the
hallway.

It was almost a novelty to listen to music again, the first time
he had heard Spike´s radio, he had started to wail for Randall
to
come and get him. He hadn't been alone in that, the other boys
had joined in as the music had drifted down the hallway. The
only thing that had calmed them down had been Angel yelling at
Spike to turn it down. Xander was still embarrassed at that
memory, now though, he didn't care what the blond played as long
as he could listen to it. Most of the music wasn't to his taste
but it was so nice to have sound rolling around the upper floor.

He padded through the quiet lobby and into the large kitchen,
suprised to see only Spike and Christopher sitting at the table.
The vampire was obviously waiting Christopher to finish his
breakfast, the blond was huffing and puffing as the young boy's
spoon chased the last of the coco puffs around the bowl. A
small smile at them both and Xander got out his latest batch of
antibiotics, two boxes and a small brown bottle. So far, there
wasn't a week that had gone by without him on some sort of
medication. Amoxil swallowed, he put two weetabix in a bowl,
smothering the cereal with warm milk. While he waited for it to
turn into easily passed mush, he popped out the second lot of
pills and gulped the Flopen down with a glass of water. The
Tetracyclin had to be taken after food, something he would do
after his cereal and a few pieces of fruit.

"About fucking time, now sod off and watch tv. Muppets or some
bloody thing, I don't give a shit, just go."

Xander's face lit up in a genuine smile as Spike grumbled around
the kitchen now that Christopher had dashed off after finishing
his breakfast. It meant that the vampire could now have his own
breakfast, if he hadn't already had it before the boy had come
down into the kitchen. Both vampires were careful not to show
their demon faces around the man/boy, they just didn't know how
he would react and Angel was wary of causing any further trauma
for Christopher. The blond whinged as he heated his blood,
Xander just listening as he quietly ate his own breakfast. The
brunette leant against the cool sink, watching as the vampire
went into game face to drink the blood. Xander could barely
remember when it had used to bother him. He tuned out to
Spike´s
continual complaining about how he was stuck looking after
Christopher, or the brat as he was affectionatly known according
to the blond vampire. Xander was more interested in how he was
going to make it up to Spike.

=======================================================

Wolfram and Hart
================

"Yes, I know. It's just great, the site is perfect. Everything
is going so much quicker than expected. I'm sure that you will
find it to your liking"

Lindsay was trying to get free from the man on the other end of
the phone call. He actually liked Randall but he just got a
delivery of something of great interest to both himself and for
the firm´s interest. A few more complimentary lines and he
found
himself released from the phone. He quickly dialed out to his
secretary's desk, telling her that he didn't want to be
disturbed for the rest of the morning. The dark haired man
turned his attention to the couriers bag infront of him.

Ripping it open with his letter knife, he took out the three
video cassettes. One chosen at random, he shoved it into his
private video player, switching the tv on. The screen quickly
filled with the actions of two boys barely into their teens
giving each other handjobs. Lindsay grimaced slightly, the
boys were a bit young for him but that wasn't the point. The
three videos were master copies of some porn that Randall had
shot before his place had been raided by the damned Kate.

All three videos were presently unreleased onto the market and
judging by what he was watching, the demand underground for them
would more than pay for the new prostitutes that would end up
working at Sanity. He had finally persuaded the older man to
buy some demon prostitutes as well as four more humans to work
the bar/brothel. The sooner the new place was built, the better
some of his clients would behave. He had so far spent a
pleasant morning trying to avoid being dribbled on by a large
grey demon. The demon had been trying to explain about god
know's what, Tomas had barely been able to decifer the grunts
and woofs in between the great bouts of saliva the demon had
produced. This particular species tended to dribble less after
a bout of sex, henceforth why Lindsay had always sent it to
Eternal before a meeting. In the end, Lindsay and Tomas had had
to send it to a demon clientle based brothel. The meeting re
scheduled for the next morning.

His attention back on the two boys, Lindsay felt his heart start
to beat faster as he concentrated on the 69 being displayed by
the two blonds onscreen. Very nice indeed. Wouldn't be long
until Sanity was up and running. The only problem now as how to
get the boys away from the Slayer and Angel. The solution to
that, was to kill every body. He loved that answer. Lindsay
was going to go through the files on each of the people he
suspected of abducting Randalls property just as soon as he had
watched all three videos. The files were waiting on his desk.

Part Ten

The agonised screaming filled the small office. Brilliant
sprays of blood flew in every direction. The victim, twitching
and jerking as much as his ravaged body would allow him. A
snapping and snarling demon paused to survey its handiwork.
Obviously pleased, it worked on the finishing touches to the
abused body. Finally it was over, the demon sated and content,
left the scene of his desicration. The dead boys image lit up
the small screen for a minute more until Angel turned off the
video.

Swivelling his chair so that he faced away from the fuzzy tv
screen, Angel now knew just why Kate had been sick. The
detective had one of the strongest stomachs for a human that he
had ever come across, something that helped with her job but
even he was feeling a little queasy after watching the video.
The brunette vampire found himself wanting to hunt down and kill
the demon responsible. He was going to get Wesley to identify
the culprit, he was sure there would have been a bragging
session after such a torture. There was no way the younger
human was going to see the whole thing, just enough so that he
could get a good view of the demon.

The main problem was getting Cordelia to identify the dead boy.
There were a good few minutes footage that concentrated mainly
on his face, unfortunately he was screaming and begging at the
time. With a shake of his head, Angel was thankful the video
had been shot almost a year before Xander had disappeared. The
boy, David, was obviously from Sunnydale. The silver jewellry
was a certain give away. What it was with males from Sunnydale,
no one really knew just yet. He briefly wondered if there were
any females from the town in the same situation as Xander and
the rest of the boys had been found in. With a snort, he
scowled when he realised that of course, there would be females
in the same situation.

With all the unexplained disappearances in Sunnydale, when ever
anyone went missing, it was almost always taken in ones stride.
It happened, life goes on, would you like fries with that?
Xander had been damned lucky that he belonged to the Slayer´s
group of friends. One of the few reasons none of them had given
up looking for him, was that if he had been killed or hurt by a
demon, there would have been an immediate bragging session to
all and sundry. Who would be able to resist taunting the blonde
dynamo with news of one of her friends being killed. Evil
humans just hadn't come into the equation. Who would have
thought that with all the demon and supernatural activity on the
Hellmouth, that it had taken a group of humans to throw a
spanner in the works.

Angel sighed at the thought of just how much 'trauma' pay he was
going to have to dole out to his favourite secretary. Maybe he
should offer to babysit Christopher while he sent both Doyle and
Cordelia out for a night alone together. Dinner, a movie and
stroll through the park. Actually, he wouldn't mind doing it
with Wesley. God, anything for a holiday. The brooding male
wanted to spend some time with Wesley, not having sex but just
sitting close enough to brush hands or have his thigh bask in
the heat Wesley usually threw off without having to worry about
how their closeness might upset one of the former prostitutes.

Chair turned around again, he leant over and turned off the tv.
Angel turned his attention from his lover back to the tape
labled 'David'. It had been a horrifying way to die. What the
tapes purpose was, he had no idea but suspected that it might
have been used as some sort of threat to keep the boys soft and
pliable. He really didn't want to ask Xander if he had seen the
tape but David´s promises of he would smile more was probably
the
reason all the prostitutes always had a smile plastered over
their faces. Would pretty much convince him too thought Angel.

Rubbing one hand across his eyes, he was unsure of what to do.
A groan saw him realise that there was very likely no demon in
L.A. who would remember the torture being bragged about. Fuck!
Another lead dead. Angel was frustrated beyond belief. The
Scooby gang and the L.A. team had been pleased when it was found
out that there were kidnappings twice a year in Sunnydale.
However, it soon turned sour when it had been discovered that it
occured on two of the loudest nights of the year. New Years Eve
and the Fourth of July. Both nights every where in America were
usually filled with parties and drunken hooligans, who was going
to notice someone getting kidnapped? Even if someone did see
it happen, they would probably put it down to some stupid pranks
being played by teenagers. It also meant that the auctions each
boy had mentioned, were held at least twice a year as well.

As much as the boys had been able to tell the vampire, all
participants in the auction had been human. Wesley suspected
that demons of any kind weren't allowed to attend and had
already offered to go to one, posing as a buyer, if one was able
to be found on time. The brunette wanted Wesley as far away
from such things as possible, knowing that the ex-watcher could
very likely become a sale item himself. Doyle's attempts at
trying to go along with the idea of backing Wesley up at an
auction had been shot down before even two sentences had been
finished. Cordelia had been almost feral in getting the point
across that he would fetch a pretty price himself with the Seer
abilities. Angel had never seen the half demon fall so silent
as the full truth of the statement came crashing into him.

The best idea so far, was to glamour Gunn, Wesley, Angel, Giles
and even Riley and Graham into attractive teenagers in the hopes
of gaining the kidnappers attention on the next expedition.
Unfortunately the friends had missed the last due date, the
fourth of July by only a few days. The next date would be on
New Years Eve. They had everything pretty much planned. The
glamoured men would have a tracker placed on their bodies, Riley
and Graham actually suggesting an implanted one. Hopefully the
kidnappers would take one as bait, the others being picked up
once the bait was taken. The one who had been taken would be
tracked by remote survellance. That meant Buffy and everyone
else could descend upon the resting place like a ton of bricks,
hopefully getting to kick some arse while breaking up the whore
ring for good.

Another idea was something that was a bit more difficult. Doyle
had compromised his wanting to help with the baiting by coming
up with a suggestion of trying to get accepted into an auction.
When that idea had been shot down by a clearly upset Cordelia,
he had offered to put the word out on the street that he wanted
a human for pleasure purposes only. The rumour had been started
a few weeks ago and so far no takers with it but the L.A. group
were hoping that one of the bidders from the auctions would come
forward with the offer to act as an agent for the half demon,
leading to the bigger players.

Unable to help himself, Angel felt another brood slip into place
as he wondered just what the right thing to do was. Should he
risk upsetting Xander by mentioning the video? How much
screeching ex-cheerleader would he be able to cope with for an
afternoon? How expensive was a suite at the Royal Haven Hotel
for one night? He wanted Wesley to get some proper sleep, the
high strung man was letting Christopher´s crying and screaming
get to him at night. Angel himself really didn't hear anything
once he was out for the night, he had always been a heavy
sleeper, pretty much unable to wake in the middle of an
earthquake or cyclone. Neither of them knew how Cordelia and
Doyle had lasted this long with the erratic sleeping habits of
the small boy. Damn, he was a man, not a small boy.

The brunette vampire had just about given up trying to talk to
the boy like he was 30 years old, it was just easier to go with
the flow. Less crying and not much cheek was given if they all
went with the denial, Spike being the only one unwilling to do
so. His head lifted out of his hands at the sound of his name
being called, he absently reminded himself to talk to his Childe
about what Barbara Neal had offered the blond. A sigh at yet
another screech from Cordelia and the vampire knew a hard day
was just about to begin.

===================================================

Cursing Barbara Neals name, Randall wanted her blood on his
hands. How dare she tell Scott and Christopher that they were
now allowed to express their emotions. He had been content to
let the old woman continue to talk to them but after that little
pearl from the withered lips of the therapist, something was
going to have to be done.

Randall didn't want for his boys to become too free with their
emotions again, it would just make retraining them all the
harder. God only knew just how long it was going to take him to
get them readjusted back into their jobs, and he didn't want
stupid ideas to make it all the harder. The therapist in
Sunnydale was just as bad, telling Mathew and Andrew that they
were now free from any obligations to please their former
captor.

Captor. It was a word that made Randall seethe, he wasn't their
fucking captor, he was their rightful owner. The one who was
worse than them both put together was the Slayer´s Watcher,
whatever that was, Rupert Giles. If the former brothel owner
had his way, the store keeper would be the first to go, and
painfully at that. The moron was actually trying to get both
Mathew and Andrew to feel fear whenever a demon approached them.
The only good thing was that their training was strong and they
were holding out nicely. Thankfully, the renovations had
already started on the shell of what would soon become Sanity.
Lindsay had already promised him that things would be taken care
of and so far it was going along nicely.

The two therapists and the other older man were going to have to
go before the new place was even half finished. In a snap
decision, Randall wanted to get the boys out of their places as
soon as possible so that the re-training could begin. He
wondered if he could put the word out so that he could start to
recoup on his losses by getting a few regulars to visit the new
holding cells while Sanity was being built, prices lowered of
course.

With a firm grip around the telephone receiver, he dialed
Wolfram and Hart, reminding himself to thank Tomas for teaching
him the spell that enabled him to see and hear any of the boys
whenever he wanted. Hearing the line connect, he decided to
play with the big boys and asked to be put through to Holland.

Part Twelve

August 5, 2004

She rolled over onto her right side, deep into a dream of a
far-away land. Billowing white clouds slowly drifted across a
deep blue sky, gently masking the tops of snow covered
mountains. Rich fertile land was covered with lush vegetation,
providing both cover and nourishment for the numerous species
that relied upon the forest for survival. Smiling at the
beautiful sight, Barbara Neal snuggled further into her
bedcovers, unconciously trying to get away from the crisp cool
air that dominated her dreams.

Such a lovely idea, a holiday. Bushwalking, canoeing, even just
wandering around aimlessly would be nice. Be good to get away
from the hustle and bustle of city life. Just forget about
everyone else´s troubles for a few weeks. Somewhere in the
country, another state would be better, no one could disturb her
if she was a few days drive away. With a snort and a half
snuffle, the greying woman moved her legs into a more pleasing
position as she dreamt of climbing one of the snowcapped peaks.
God, if only to stand still for just one moment, nothing to
harrass her for even a second. Another snort and the therapist
started to wave goodbye to the quiet countryside as she left the
world of R.E.M.

BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BE....

A moan drifted through the messy bedroom as Barbara wearily
lifted a hand to turn off the persistant alarm beside her bed.
Momentarily stunned that it was already time to wake up, she
double checked with her watch that it really was 8.30am. For
the last 2 weeks, she had been sleeping more and more but it
seemed like it was never enough. Maybe she was just getting
burnt out and needed some rest. All her dreams lately were of
exotic locations far away from L.A. Her dream last night had
been filled with crumbling stone temples and long balmy nights.
The lure of Bali and evenings filled with outlandish cocktails
was beginning to wear her down although going rockclimbing in
New Zealand was equally appealing.

Bed covers thrown back, she sat up and swung her feet down onto
the polished floor boards. An dry hand ran through knotted hair
as the older woman contemplated a week of nothing but massages,
spas and facials. A holiday, hmmmm? Yes..yes. She was going to
do it. Where though? No matter, she would just have to go out
during lunch and pick up some brochures. Something overseas was
sounding really good, maybe a cruise around Fiji, The Isle of
Pines and Tonga would do the trick?

Thankfully it wouldn't be that hard to re-shuffle her patients.
She had taken no one new since Christopher and Xander so it
wouldn't be like she was angsting out anyone just starting
therapy. She would send Xander down to Father Scheider for the
time she was going to be away, that way he could still receive
some sort of therapy. The change of scenery would be good for
him as well. Christopher might as well just stay at the Hyperion
for all the good her sessions were doing. The man was hellbent
on ignoring his years at the brothel and just enjoying his time
morphed as a child, not that Barbara could blame him.

Stretching and popping her tired body, she scratched at her
backside, pulling out the wedgie her pajama bottoms had decided
to grace her with. Actually, she should get all the boys to
visit the Christian order. Robin might still be a problem but
knowing that all the other boys were going as well might just be
the incentive the youth needed to step out into open air again.
She would have to talk with Father Scheider, Mr Giles and the
other therapist, Mr Hunt. Barbara was sure that they would agree
to it, even if they didn't, she would still send Xander to the
order with his support person. How a vampire was going to cope
being in holy grounds, she didn't really know but something
would be figured out. It would have to be, she was going to go
on holidays for 21 days in just over 2 weeks.

She just wanted to run away from everything right now but she
knew that everything had to be sorted out in L.A. before she
could do that. Where she was going to go was really the most
important question at the moment. Taking a few steps towards
the bedroom door, the still sleepy woman didn't notice the
dissipating mauve vapour swirling around underneath her bed.
The same mist that had visited her each night for the last two
weeks.

Part Thirteen

25 August 2004.

Spike
=======

It was the bloody silence that first warned me that something
was wrong. None of that bloody bints screeching, Wankley wasn't
wafting around trying to impress Broody Bastard with his
knowledge, I couldn't hear him prattling on. My Sire was in a
mood, that went without even saying. I could feel the intense
brood all the way up to the recently renovated library on the
first floor. The itch started right around in my nape, and
slowly crept its way down my spine, welling in the space just
above my arse. Something was really wrong, and I wanted to know
right there and then.

So, with a quick glance at the sleeping whelp, I carefully got
up from the edge of the sofa he had fallen asleep on, hoping
that he would be alright for a few minutes. I figured that he
would be right for about ten minutes in between nightmares.
Enough time to find out what was causing this itch and to grab a
beer and mug of blood. Down the steps I went, into the deep
silence of the lobby. I could smell salt tainting the air, the
closer I got to the foyer. Tears and unhappiness reigned the
darkness.

It didn't feel right to holler out a question of what was going
on. I can't explain it, it just wasn't *right*. The itch was
getting worse and with a hand shoved down the back of my pants
for once, I both scratched and walked to the counter. Peering
over the edge, I saw the Mincing Poof, Screams Like Woman and
Slag sitting in complete silence. Nothing, no fuck off Spike or
why did you leave Xander alone, nothing. Where the half breed
was, I had no idea. With a another scratch and a few sniffs of
the air, I could smell that the bint was crying. Why? I just
had to ask, so I did. The answer I got was a surprise.

Car accident.

Drink driving.

Dead on arrival at the hospital.

Giles.

Fuck! The last person I ever expected to go out with a bang,
literally. I always thought that he would be the last of the
Scraggy Gang to go. Him just huddled over immense piles of
mouldy books until he withered away into dust. How Cunty was
going to cope with her lifeline gone, I don't know. Didn't even
feel a smile come up with that thought. Just started worrying
about how I was going to tell the boy that his 'father figure'
was gone. Hell only knows that he didn't have another one to
lean on. His birth father had carked it only about a year after
he had disappeared, his dumb fuck of a mother had followed
about six months after. Both useless alcoholics. Whelp´s
better
off without them anyway.

He hasn't even asked about where they are, I think he knows
somehow. Probably been expecting it for years now. Never heard
of them mistreating the boy but who the hell gives a shit now?
Never liked the Watcher. Always in my way and a right fucking
prude. No fun to be around except for the time at Eternal.
Gives a great handjob, shame I never really took the chance to
get up his arse about it. They say that when ever someone dies,
you always have one regret that leaps out at you. Well, that is
mine, not ragging on him for his 'handy' skills.

What doesn't surprise me though is the drink-driving. Everyone
knew that he liked more than the odd tipple, more like a quarter
bottle of whatever was handy each night. Grew to more than a
half bottle when the boy disappeared. Wow, he really is gone!
Stupid prick, didn't even bother to come and visit Harris since
the other boys went back to Sunnyhell. Too fucking *ashamed* of
the way he acted all woman like in the sodding brothel. Moron.
Too late for regrets now, just have to wait until the whelp dons
his own pair of white wings and goes upstairs for that
son/father bonding chat they never got to have. After all that
boy has been through, there is no fucking way he isn't going
upstairs, all the sodding Scooby gang is going to meet up there.

Me? Straight into the depths of hell, might just have to mix it
up a little and have a bit of fun. Angel? Who the hell cares?
Probably get marooned on an island with Benny Hill and the old
bald guy he was always slapping on the head. Hope he gets to
listen to the fucking theme for all eternity. Only thing that
put me off the show was that effing theme music, used to watch
it without sound. Good bloody show too.

Just turned around, didn't comment, didn't say a word. No one
was in form for a slanging match anyway. Would rather leave the
barbs until either Skank or Prickface are able to answer back,
more fun that way. Climbed the stairs again and sat back down
on the new dark blue sofa that had arrived that morning. Whelp
was still asleep, dark hair flopping across his eyes in a
tangled mess. Gonna be a hard blow for the boy, Fat Barb is
away on a sodding holiday. Burnt out apparantly. Too much
fucking money, I reckon. Bloody cow is on a cruise around the
Fiji Islands. How the hell are we supposed to contact her when
the kid has a mental?

So, here I am. Sitting on the couch, itching my arms while I
try to work out a way of how to tell Xander that one of the most
important people in his life is gone. I think that I will get
Francis to tell him while I'm nearby to help if needed. I don't
know whether he is going to cry or just shrug it off like he did
with the other kids dying, Theo. It's gonna hit him one day
and bloody hard. It was easier looking after Dru. Hard fuck,
few slaps and/or torture, new hairstyle or doll and it was
alright again until the next time something set her off. Whelp
is still trying it on with me. Crafty little bugger too.
Jumped into the shower with me one morning, told me it was an
apology for punching at me the day after his big crying fit. He
told me all this as he slid down to his knees, all ready to take
me into his mouth.

Would have let him do it too if the smile had reached his eyes.
Poor bastard was scared shitless that he had displeased me. Had
me stumped for a minute. Got him to promise me that he would
start wearing splippers around the hotel instead of barefeet.
First slippers, going on to runners and then soft ankled boots
and finally, Doc Martins. Boy was a bit confused about the
promise but at least it got him out of thinking that he had to
make it up to me. I had to hold my laughter until he left the
bathroom, boy has to get used to shoes if we are going to a mall
or the supermarket. Gotta get the whelp into a decent pair of
Docs before the useless actress that plays at secretary tries to
improve his wardrobe again. She's never going to know this but
some of the stuff she has gotten Harris is actually pretty good.
There is this one long sleeved v-neck light knit jumper that
Xander is yet to wear and I have to admit that I really want it
myself. If the boy wasn't a few sizes bigger than me, I would
bloody steal it, be buggered if I ask her Bitchiness where she
got it.

Damn! Now the inside of my elbows are getting itchy. Jesus, is
that a sodding rash? What the hell have I got? Wonder if there
is any calamine lotion in the Ballerinas medicine chest? Looks
like the boy is stirring, might just put him to bed and get the
half breed to tell him tomorrow morning. Still have to ask him
about that tape of David. Poof got me to watch it and if I'm
right and the whelp has seen it, then that explains a hell of a
lot of his problems. Actually it isn't David, it´s some kid
called Jonathan. Bint cried all night when she identified him,
turns out all the Scoobies had gone to school with him. Nasty
way to go and that thing with the jaw, sheer brilliance. Loved
it all. Mr 'I have no personality' Angelus got all shirty with
me for liking it. I'm a bloody demon, of course I'm going to
like it.

Boy's awake now, still a bit sleepy. I don't know what to say.
I suppose honesty is the best way to go. Haven't lied to him
since the day I saw him again in the brothel and I don't think
that I will again. Don't know why, just doesn't feel right.

Part Fourteen

28 August 2004,

With a glance at the brunette seated beside him, Spike drew the
car up to the kerb, throwing the gear stick into park. Sitting
quietly for a few minutes, the vampire waited for the youth to
make some sort of sign that he recognised he was back in
Sunnydale. It had take almost seven hours to drive the usual
three hour distance from L.A. to Sunnydale and the blond was
exhausted. Twice he had turned around and had been almost back
at the Hyperion and both times he had given in to the screams of
frustration from Xander. It was actually upsetting the vampire
that the youth wanted to go to the funeral but the closer he got
to Sunnydale, the more terrified he became.

Spike had steeled himself completly the third time the youth had
gotten hysterical, ignoring the shuddering gasps and streaming
tears, continuing to drive to Sunnydale for the ex-watchers
funeral the next afternoon. Once past the welcoming sign to the
town, Xander had stopped crying, just gasping and shaking while
staring straight ahead. They were parked outside Joyce's house,
the slayers mother had indicated that she would more than
welcome them both. Spike really didn't mind the older woman,
she had been about the only one who had listened to him about
Drusilla and it wouldn't hurt the whelp to stay with a friend
rather than in a motel.

Another minute of sitting in a car that reeked of cigarette
smoke and terror, Spike wound up the window and opened the door.
Back door open, he got out both his and the youth's bags,
walking to the passenger door, he opened the door. Taking a
good look at the brunette, the vampire gently prodded at the
still shaking form.

"Come on pet, time to get out and get some sleep. You did good,
we're here."

Xander blinked furiously, turning his head to look at the
vampire crouched down beside him. With a hard swallow, the
youth hesitantly got out of the car and followed the blond to
the front door. A few raps on the door saw a sleepy Joyce let
them into the quiet house.

"Good to see you again Xander, Spike. Are you two alright? Do
you want anything to eat or drink? I made sure that I have some
of your usual Spike, just help yourself and that goes for you
too Xander, ok?"

Answering the questions, Spike was slightly amazed that his
invitation into the house had never been removed. He asked
Joyce which rooms they were in, Spike in Buffy's old room and
Xander just next door in the guest bedroom. Unable to supress a
snicker of amusment at how the Slayer would chuck a hissy fit to
know that he was sleeping in her old room, the vampire made a
decision to wank off in the room just to spite the bitch.
Thankfully the human woman was occupied trying to get an answer
out of Xander of if he would like some hot chocolate. The
vampire quickly shook his head at Joyce, the kid hated chocolate
and sweet things since being rescued from the brothel. A nudge
to a still silent Xander and they both climbed the stairs into
their allocated bedrooms for the night.

"Right Xan, your room, your bag. Go to sleep and I'll see you
in the morning."

Hopefully the whelp would be too emotionally drained to have any
nightmares, which had gotten worse since he had been told
about Giles. The boy had started to scream in his nightmares,
not unlike Christopher. Seeing Xander disappear into his room,
Spike waited just outside the doorway until he felt the
heartbeat calm down and the smell of fear dissipate. Spike
dumped
his bag on the bed in his own room and thumped back down the
stairs, glancing in at the whelp before continuing to the
kitchen. Xander might not want a chocolate but he did, Joyce
had made him a few while he had prattled on about Drusilla and
he had loved each one. He figured he had about an hour tops
before Xander started to twitch in his sleep, indicating a
beginning nightmare, providing he went to sleep straightaway.
The woman was probably already making him one. Bloody better
have those mini marshmellows was the thought as he clumped into
the kitchen. Sure enough, Joyce was just adding a handful of
green, pink and white fluffy sugar balls to the divine smelling
liquid.

"Here you go Spike. I knew that you would want one. How's
Xander?"

"Don't know actually. Cried for about two hours after the half
breed told him about Crusty. I don't think he has really made
the connection though, I mean, he cried but he sort of shrugged
it off like he did when that Theo whelp carked it."

Taking a sip from the steaming mug, Spike followed Joyce back
into the dimly lit living room, listening as she told him that
Xander's room had a small lamp that could be left on all night
and that she had stocked up on fruit and had placed a pitcher of
water to cool in the fridge. With a nod, Spike reminded himself
to take a glass of water up to Xander's room before going to
sleep himself, Xander tending to get angsty if there wasn't a
glass of water anywhere near him at all times.

"I didn't think you were coming, the others arrived hours ago, I
was getting a bit worried."

"Boy got anxious about coming back to Sunnyhell. Had to turn
back twice. Stupid fucking therapist is away, whelp was meant
to go for a visit to that Christian thing for a few days. Was
meant to go yesterday but the funeral sort of took care of that,
you know?"

A nod saw Joyce agree with the vampire. Despite what Buffy had
always said about Spike, she saw things in the male that a lot
of other people would miss. Him talking to her, albeit
drunkenly, about Drusilla had made her see that he would lay
down his unlife without question for whoever had his full
attention at that particular point in time. It obviously took a
lot to get his attention but she thought that Xander was blessed
to have the vampire looking out for him. Her daughter had
ranted and raved for days about what Cordelia had told her about
Spike being appointed Xander's 'transition back to society
support person' but even after listening to Buffy, she couldn't
agree that the vampire would end up hurting Xander. Buffy had
never listened to an almost weeping drunk blond in the middle of
the night but Joyce had and had sympathised over his situation.

He could be a right arsehole sometimes, the meetings about
Xander had proved that and she had been just about to stake him
herself at one point. How ironic that he was now taking care of
someone he had repeatedly ridiculed.

"Generally though, I mean, how is he? The nightmares still
going on?"

"Yep. Regular like clockwork, every night without fail. Gotten
worse since the watcher died too. Screams a bit."

"Oh god! The poor boy. How are you coping with it all? Can't
be easy on you?"

Spike shrugged at Joyce. She was right, it wasn't easy with the
nightmares but who the hell else was going to do it? In some
ways the boy was easier to look after than Drusilla, at least he
didn't have to worry about Xander dusting himself in an effort
to see if there really was a smiley face in the sun like all the
children's books indicated or trying to christin dolls with real
holy water. It was harder to get the whelp to socialise and
some days it was damn near impossible to get a sentence out of
him. The vampire was more worried about leaving the boy alone
in the presence of other males, he had caught Xander sidling up
to both Doyle and Angel on more than one occasion in the past
few weeks and if the blond hadn't interrupted straight away, he
was sure that the brunette would have been undressed in about
two minutes flat. He wished he could at least talk to Fat Barb
about it, the boy wasn't getting aggressive, he was getting
slutty.

Xander hadn't gotten too far with Angel, the older vampire
pretty much frozen in horror at the boy's crude suggestions,
leaving the library immediately as he saw Spike come in. The
broody vampire was now not letting himself get caught alone in a
room with the boy, not wanting to give him any type of
encouragement at all. The half Bracchen was another story, he
was pretty naive when it came to male come-ones and Spike had
stumbled upon them in the middle of a hug. Totally innocent
until he noticed Xander's hand slowly going to cup Doyles
crotch. A loud cough and snarl had broken that one up, the
blond not saying anything about Doyle explaining that Xander had
been feeling a little upset and had wanted a hug. He hadn't
needed to, the half demon had gone pretty quiet when he realised
just what he had said. Doyle was now taking Angel's lead and
trying not to be alone with the youth. Xander was yet to
acknowledge what the two other men were doing. Wesley was the
only one who was yet to be hit on but Spike didn't think he
would be due to the fact the other man was a full human.

The vampire was brushing off numerous suggestions and touches
himself. He had hoped that the scene in the shower would be the
last but unfortunately it wasn't. It was annoying the blond
immensly, Spike was hard the instant the boy looked at him shyly
before ducking his head and the light brushings against his
crotch and backside were driving him to masturbate more than
often. Normally he would just take advantage of the situation
and shag the brat senseless but he knew that it wouldn't be the
best thing for Xander in the long run. It was weird, he finding
himself almost following the brunette around the Hyperion,
something he had only done with Drusilla. He just *had* to be
near the youth, not neccessarily in the same room but close
enough to hear and smell the whelp whenever he wanted. More
recently his dreams of Drusilla had slowed down, being replaced
by ones that featured Xander doing ordinary everyday things.

Spike was jerked out of his thoughts by the Slayer's mother
taking his empty mug from his hand, Joyce telling him to go to
bed himself. Nodding at the suggestion, he turned an ear
towards the stairs, listening for any noise that indicated a
nightmare for the youth. Maybe Xander would sleep all the way
through that night. The funeral was in the late afternoon,
Buffy making all the arrangements. Anya and Gunn were hosting
the wake in the Magic Box after the funeral. In the kitchen, he
poured a large glass of water to place in the spare bedroom.
During the first weeks of being freed from the brothel, all the
boys had downed water like it was going out of fashion. Xander
had hinted at being thirsty while at Eternal, sometimes carrying
a glass of water with him wherever he went in the hotel.
Something that he would probably never grow out of, pretty much
like the body lotion ritual after each shower the boy had going.

Making sure all the lights were off downstairs, the blond
climbed the stairs. Just outside the whelp's bedroom, he
listened at the steady heartbeat, waiting to see if there were
any signs of a nightmare before entering the softly lit bedroom
and placing the glass on the dresser that held the lamp. The boy
wasn't asleep but he wasn't far from it either.

"S.s..spike?"

"Yeah, what?"

"I'm s.sorry about b.b.b.before."

"Don't worry Pet. We're here and that's the main thing. You
want anything?"

"N.no th.thanks."

Seeing the blond turn to leave, Xander called the vampire back
before he disappeared from view and into his own room.

"S.spike?"

"What now?"

"Giles, he..he really is g.g.gone isn't he?"

With a sniff, Spike could smell the tears that were threatening
to emerge. Sighing, he sat himself down on the comfy bed and
looked down at the sleepy eyed brunette. Honesty, that was the
only way to go. It was a good sign, he hoped, that the youth
was asking about the deceased man.

"Yeah Whelp, he really is gone."

A pale hand reached out to stroke at the thick dark mass of
hair. Slowly, Spike smoothed the silky strands from the
forehead, hoping that the youth wouldn't use this as an
opportunity to start something. Another sniff and he smelt that
doing anything like that was probably the last thing on the boys
mind, unhappiness tainting the air of the room. He watched as
the first of the tears slid their way down the tanned cheeks,
the male's breath starting hitch.

"Are y.y.you going to th.the funeral?"

"Funerals are more for family and friends. Lets face it, I'm
bloody well neither. I'll be going to the party afterwards
though, you know at Prune Faces shop."

A snort and sniffle later, Xander asked what the vampire had
thought of the older watcher. Looking intently at the suprised
blue eyes, he was comforted by the almost rhythmic pattern of
the
cool hand on his brow. It was nice, he couldn't ever remember
anyone but his mother doing it.

"Well, I didn't like the prudey sod. Hated him, always in my
way and telling Bunney how to kill perfectly reasonable demons.
Doesn't mean that I didn't respect the man for being able to do
a job that most people would crumble under. Actually, probably
a good thing he was Cunty's watcher. Can you imagine what a
complete fuckwit the bint would have turned out like if Old
Dusty hadn't been around with his stiff upper lip?"

Seeing the boy choke a bit on his few chuckles, the vampire
allowed a smirk to adorn his face while he continued with his
thoughts of the dead man. Whelp didn't laugh often, nice to see
and hear. Still he stroked at the thick hair, pleased that he
was allowed to do it even while feeling slightly bitter that it
wasn't Dru lying in the bed allowing only him to soothe her
fears and provide her with the comfort she was needing.

"Girl would have had to have been classed as retarded if Giles
hadn't gotten her past the 'see Dick run' books. Too smart for
his own good at times, he was."

"It was him that got everything organised to find you. Put up
the flyers, got the notices in the paper. Annoyed the cops each
month to see if you had been located. He never stopped looking
for you Xander. You were very important to him'

Spike had no idea why he was telling the crying youth that but
he was. So far, no one had broached the subject of how he had
been found or what the Scooby gang had done when they had found
out he was missing, all prefering to wait until Barbara Neal
indicated that it was time to tell all. Xander's tears were at
full force, the chuckling gone to be replaced by heaving sobs.

"R..really? He l..looked for m.m.me?"

"For fucks sake! Of course he bloody did. What, did you
honestly think that no one was looking for you?"

"Yes"

Skin crawling, Spike halted his petting at the barely whispered
word. Bloody hell, the whelp was serious. The pain radiating
out of the dark eyes was amazing, the youth was almost screaming
the emotion of misery into the softly lit room. With quick
shake of his head, the vampire resumed the stroking of Xander's
hair. He asked the youth why.

"No one c..c.came for s.so long. I p.prayed at first l.like I
was taught in S.s.sunday School b..but it g.got to be just
w.w.words after a while. I..I stopped belieiving that someone
w.was going to c.c.come."

"Yeah, but we found you, didn't we?"

Nodding, Xander hiccuped while he tried to gather his thoughts.
He was tired but he felt unable to go to sleep although the
stroking was soothing to him. Silence set in, the brunette
staring at the open doorway, his mind on things other than the
funeral that afternoon. Spike waited for the boy to say more, he
was sure that even with all the visits to the therapist, Xander
had just let loose with more information than he had probably
given Fat Barb.

"Was h.he ashamed of m.m.me?"

"No! No, he fucking well wasn't. He was upset at you being at
Eternal but Xander, no-one is ashamed of you. What those
bastards did was not your fault, so you can stop that nasty
little thought right now mate"

"I'm s.scared that i.it will happen a..a.again. T.that
everything will be g..g.good and then one d.d.day I will w.wake
up in a.a.a dark room, not able to s.s.see anything."

Well, that might just explain the fear of the dark then thought
the vampire. He kept stroking as the tired youth told him of
how he had woken up in a pitch black room, unable to see or hear
anything bar his own breathing. Spike felt himself get angry
when Xander told of the lack of water, the drugged food he had
been given in the small room. A few gibberish sentences
followed as the boy gave into sheer mental exhaustion. The
anger rolled around in his stomach but what suprised him was the
his other feeling of pride that Xander had confided in him.
That the whelp felt comfortable enough with him to tell him a
tiny sliver of what had helped to reduce the youth into a mere
shell of his former self.

Content to sit by Xander for a few minutes more, Spike felt his
own eyelids begining to droop. A glance at the guest room clock
and he saw that it was almost four in the morning. God, no
wonder he felt tired, especially after the torturous drive to
the small town. Making a descion, he decided to get his
mattress and sleep next to the boy on the floor, an idea he gave
up as he remembered that Buffy's old bed was a double and there
wasn't enough room on the floor for it. With a swift movement,
he gently lifted the slumbering boy into his arms, thankfull for
his vampire strength. There was no way he would have been able
to lift the larger and heavier male if he had still been a
human. He quickly transfered the boy into Buffy's bed, making
sure that he was tucked under the blankets comfortably. Another
trip back saw him dragging the guest rooms single mattress into
the Slayers room, dumping it at the end of the larger bed.

Blankets retrieved from the smaller room, Spike laid out the bed
after making sure that he wouldn't be dusted in the morning.
Thankfully Joyce had installed some thick curtains on the
windows, obviously well aware of how flammable his species was.
Checking the whelp again, he was reassured by the soft snoring.
He honestly hoped that he would get at least a few hours
undisturbed sleep. Spike knew that he wasn't the only one
suffering from a lack of sleep. Woosley, Scrag Hag and Prickly
Arse were all looking worse for wear with Christopher's
screaming
at night. The only one who ever looked well rested was the
Great Poof. A snort at what it would take for his Sire to wake
up at night, the blond had a sudden image of an atomic bomb
going off, leaving the world full of cockroaches and one
sleeping vampire that had not only slumbered all the way
through, but had been protected by his hair.

Yawning, the vampire snuggled under the thick blankets once
undressed and with a few tosses and turns, he felt himself drift
off.

Part Fifteen

Rubbing at her temple with one hand, Joyce took another sip of
her extra strong coffee. She knew why she had a headache. She
was busy keeping her eye on Buffy, making sure that her
Headstrong daughter didn't attempt to stake the bleached blond
vampire. Joyce was eyeing off Buffy who was watching Spike who
had Xander permanently attached to him via the brunettes hand
clinging to the back of the vampire’s shirt. Spike was watching
Angel who was staring at the two males, Angel being eyed off
himself by his partner Wesley who was being elbowed by Cordelia
who was holding hands with Doyle. Riley was attempting to hold
hands with a fidgety Slayer who was arguing with Willow who was
being placated by a barely smiling Tara. Both Gunn and Anya
were surveying the scene while trying to soothe two whiney
children. Christopher was hanging onto Cordelia's hand, looking
at everybody in the room.

The only one not taking any notice of the pointed looks, stares,
heated arguing and whispers was Graham. He was too busy picking
and eating at the large spread of finger food Anya and Joyce had
produced for the little gathering. This was sooo not of the
good thought Joyce, mentally slapping at herself for sounding
like a spoilt teenager. She had no idea of what to do. The
funeral had been fine. Short and quite sweet really. Buffy had
known exactly what type of service her mentor had wanted.
Unbeknown to Joyce, they had actually discussed the possibility
of Giles dying before Buffy on a few occasions. Both Buffy and
Giles had ended up telling each other just what type of funeral
they had wanted. Buffy wanted to be cremated and spread over a
rose bush while the Watcher had wanted a traditional burial with
a simple headstone. A few lovely songs from Simon and Garfunkle
as well as a humorous version of 'Stairway to heaven' by Rolf
Harris. Tears had flowed openly in the private room. Joyce was
sure that she had seen Angel wipe at his eyes.

Buffy had arranged for the funeral to be the last on the list at
the largest funeral directors in Sunnydale. Willy who owned the
demon bar had showed up as well as a few occult suppliers, Anya
making them leave the wake only ten minutes ago. As they had
left, Spike had entered the room and that was when the trouble
had begun. Xander had taken one look towards the door and had
practically run to the vampire and had clutched at the black
shirt covering the usual black t-shirt. The youth was yet to let
go, following the vampire around the room before they had
settled for standing in a corner, only to be subjected to
stares. Since then the rooms temperature had dropped. Nudged
out of her thoughts by Graham, she was startled to hear what the
taller man told her.

"So, let me get this right. Buffy is trying to get Willow to
agree to her staking Spike but Tara is telling her girlfriend no
while Riley is sitting on the sidelines. Damned if he agrees
and damned if he doesn’t. Angel is convinced that even though
the therapist has okayed Spike taking care of Xander, his Childe
is using this as an attempt to get down Xander's pants while
Angel's boyfriend is ready to leap in front of a vampire who
suddenly decides he hasn't had his ration of guilt for the day.
Wesley is trying to ignore Cordelia's bitching about his
boyfriends’ brooding while her fiancé is staying silent because
he knows his life just wouldn't be worth living if he opened his
mouth. Anya is pissed that no-one else but me has been eating
the food she has obviously put so much time into while her
husband is just wishing their kids would put a sock in it for
once and Christopher is plain confused"

"What about Xander and Spike?"

"Oh, them? Well, Xander is clinging to his support person like
his therapist probably doesn't want him to because he is
terrified that he will be kidnapped again while Spike is aware
of what is going on but is getting frustrated keeping his mouth
shut because if he opens it, he will more than likely get
himself staked and Xander gets more traumatised than everyone
has thought possible"

"Well. You have everything down pat don't you?"

"Nah, just overhead everyone’s arguments while at the food
table,
guessed the rest. Lets face it, that really isn’t too hard to
do
either"

Shaking her head, she made the ex-soldier grimace at the thought
of two more days of this type of behaviour. The will was being
read the next day which meant they would all probably stay again
tomorrow night, leaving the next morning/night. The L.A. team,
original Scooby Gang, Riley and Anya had been told to attend the
reading. A shout from Buffy saw Willow stalk over to Xander and
the vampire, standing next to them with arms crossed, glaring at
the petite blonde as if just daring her to try and stake Spike.
A few more quite words with her daughter’s boyfriend’s best
friend and Joyce went to placate her daughter.

It was a soft stuttering voice that had them all quiet and
looking in the one direction. Standing on a chair, a handful of
Spikes shirt bunched into his white knuckled hand, he stared
straight ahead.

"I..I.I teased G-man a.a.about his g.guitar p.playing, I.I
remember s.s.s.springing h.him singing in a.a.a cafe when t.that
party g.got pos.s.ssessed b.by the l.lust poltergeist"

A pause and Xander was prompted to continue by seeing everyone
smile at him. His free hand rubbed through his hair while he
gathered a breathe for the next words.

"H.he was o.o.one of my b.best friends. H.he saved m.m.my life"

Helped down off the chair by Spike, Xander hoped he wouldn't be
sick. He felt like he was going to vomit up his breakfast.
Xander knew that everybody had been staring at both him and the
vampire. The brunette hadn't been able to stop himself from
going straight to Spike, it just felt better and safer when he
was close to the blond. It had been Willow reminding him of
Giles' first appearance at Sunnydale High that had prompted his
little speech. The older librarian had been horrified when he
had been sprung by his three younger friends in the cafe so long
ago, it had taken weeks for Xander to stop making references to
the embarrassing episode.

"You should have seen his face when he finally figured out that
Tara was my girlfriend. I don't think I had ever seen Giles so
flustered and embarrassed. He made all these little 'Ahh'
noises and of course the polished glasses ritual went on for
day's afterwards"

Leaning against Spike’s cool body, Xander lifted his hand to
touch at the redhead standing on the chair he had so recently
vacated. He gently grasped at the smaller hand, giving the
openly crying girl a little smile. The brunette allowed the
witch to tighten her grasp almost painfully around his hand.
Although Spike could feel the youths trembling, he was surprised
at how much courage it had taken Xander to get up in front of
everybody. The boy had made a huge step forward just over night
and the vampire had to admit that he was proud to share in it.
He was a little embarrassed about being clutched at, but he
wasn't going to try and shake off the whelp at such an
emotionally charged gathering. The vampire was just going to
have to stop the over needy grabbing in another situation if and
when it arose again.

With a snort, he watched as the whelps’ smile got bigger when
Willow confessed to having had a crush on the older human for
some years before she had met her first boyfriend. A round of
snickers went around the room at Cordelia's loud statement of
"Well, who didn't!” prompting a few odd looks her way. The next
one to get up was Anya, telling the room that she had never
worked for such a kind boss as Giles. A few more laughs went
around at Gunn's comment that his wife didn't work, she dictated
to everyone. Husband silenced with a glare, she went on to say
that she was glad that all her attempts to get her powers back
had failed. If she had been successful, she would never had
gotten the chance to find out what a good friend the storeowner
had turned out to be.

The reminiscing went on into the early hours of the following
morning. Some were sad, a few stories had been almost too
painful
to hear but most were full of humour. Laughter had rung out in
the shop, only a few times had various people lapsed into a
crying fit. Xander had still clung to the vampire all through
the night. Buffy had eventually come over to tell her story,
bursting into tears when the brunette had grasped at her hand
while she stood on the chair. Once again Spike had been truly
shocked at how far the boy had progressed. After a nudge from
the youth, he had reluctantly gotten up on the chair himself
after Buffy, telling the room the same thing he had told Xander
when asked what he had thought of the Watcher. A few gasps had
gone around the room at his first words, only to have a Slayer
give him a watery smile at his confession that he had ultimately
respected the older human.

For once he played with tact, leaving out the insults to Buffy
and only calling the deceased man the pretty tame Crusty. The
last person to speak had been Joyce, horrified when her daughter
had interrupted the clean version of the bewitched candy
incident to tell the real story, including the boffing on the
police car. The room had erupted into laughter at the older
humans spluttering and vows of revenge.

Various yawns echoed around the shop, Buffy and Graham handing
their bundles of sleeping girl back to their parents. Joyce
waved her car keys in front of Spike and Xander, telling them
that she would drive them back to the house in a few minutes.
Angel and Wesley made their good byes first, Spike just knew
that he would be getting a talking to about the clutching from
Xander in the next day or so. With a snort, he decided that he
really didn't give a toss what his Sire thought. Cordelia and
Doyle were searching the shop for Christopher, the boy having
wandered off behind a bookshelf halfway into Riley’s story about
Giles organisation of Gunn's bucks party. A question of if the
vampire would be sleeping on the floor again prompted the blond
to think back to that morning.

Spike had told Xander why he had woken up in a bed he hadn't
gone to sleep in. He had had to. The brunette had woken up,
taken one look around the strange room and had almost had a
heart attack. The vampire was sure that if the human had been
twenty years older, he would be residing in a morgue by now. He
hadn't realised that he couldn't be seen from the double bed
when lying on the floor. The blond had just assumed the youth
would take a look around, see Spike on the mattress on the floor
and be ok with everything. Once calmed down, the brunette had
been fine with it. So fine in fact, the vampire had had to duck
an unwanted kissing attempt from the boy.

Xander was disappointed when Spike shook his head. It would make
things so much harder. He had hoped that with them both being
away from the Hyperion, the vampire would lower his resolve to
keep Xander away just a little. Angel and Doyle didn't want him
either, that didn't really bother him as much as Spikes constant
rejection did. It wasn't right. The vampire was only taking
the time to look out for Xander because Spike was attracted to
him, which confused the boy each time he was pushed away. Spike
may be being paid but Xander knew the real reason.

Turning to say goodbye to Cordelia and Doyle as they came back
into the main shop, he felt his knees go weak as Cordelia
shrieked that she couldn't find Christopher.

Part Sixteen

Gently running a finger down the soft cheeks, the digit ending
up between warm lips, Angel bent his head down to suck at
Wesley's adams apple. The humans pulse rate soared as he tugged
on the cuffs holding his wrists close to the solid bedhead.

"Jesus Angel! Please?"

"Please what?"

With a gasp, the lean man arced up into the hard twist of his
erect nipple, bottom lip caught between his lips as the waves of
pain rolled through his body. A small slap across the face made
the male moan with sheer pleasure.

"Please what?"

The strong white fingers clenched around the smaller man's jaw
in a grip that was firm but carefully applied as to not leave
bruises. There never was bruising that showed, just applied
pressure in certain points most times. Wesley wanted bruises
tonight, a souviner from Sunnydale.

"Please *Master*, fuck me hard"

"Silly little bitch, you aren't in the position to make demands"

Fingers stroking the throbbing vien in his lovers neck, Angel
felt himself get harder as Wesley moaned out the magic word.
Master, it was a word that worked a treat each time. The word
was power in itself. Who would have guessed that the shy
ex-librarian would be such a slut in the bedroom, certainly not
Angel. The vampire had been shocked when Wes had cum without
being touched sexually the very instant Angel had gripped both
wrists in a hard grasp one night. Two long legs had clenched
themselves around his waist only seconds after Wes had cum,
coarse swearing and taunts filling the quietness of Angels
bedroom. From that night on, they had both dived into
consensual bondage with a passion.

Wesley had been ecstatic when Angel had accepted his preference
for being submissive. He had honestly thought that the vampire
would be too guilt filled to partcipate in the bedroom games, no
matter how consensual it might be. Angel, however, had leaped
into the role playing with as much gusto as the formerly
virginial ex-watcher had.

"Master, I want a bruise, please?"

"Ahhh, my darling little whore, you ask for such lovely deeds"

A harder twist to the right nipple and Wesley panted in
pain/pleasure, begging his Master not to stop until he was in
tears. Leaving the just reddening flesh for a moment, the
larger male reached down beside the bed, grappling with the two
tubes lying on the floor. Finally, Angel held up the items,
prompting Wes to choose one.

"Left or right Whore?"

"Oh Master, left please?"

With a smile, the tube held in the left hand was tossed to the
floor. Squirming as much as he could with Angel straddling his
hips, Wes was sure he was about to cum from sheer anticipation
of what was about to happen. Slowly the brunette vampire pulled
a latex glove from the box residing on the bedside table, making
sure to snap the glove a few times as he pulled it on,
encouraging the lovely squirming going on underneath him. Once
done, he waved the tube of cream underneath his lovers nose,
delighting in the muttered curses emerging from the usually
timid man.

"Ready slut?"

"Yes Master. Oh god yes please!"

Slowly unscrewing the cap, Angel squeezed a small amount onto
his gloved fingers, being careful not to get any of the cream
onto his unprotected skin. Wes bucked his hips up as hard as
he could in an attempt to get Angel to hurry. He wanted the
cream right away and not a second later.

A slap echoed through the room, Angel hitting hard enough with
his ungloved hand to cause discomfort but not enough to produce
a lasting mark. The red handprint would be gone in an hour. If
Wes pleaded some more, he might just slap him a few more times.

"Thank you Master!"

"I think I'm too soft on you"

Eyes rolled in delight at just what that statement promised, Wes
started to pant as the cream was applied to his left nipple.
Only a few seconds later, the Sunnydale Motel room was playing
host to whimpers of pain intermingled with curses and a human
begging for the pain not to stop.

"Good Bitch?"

"Mmmm. Ooohh, ahhhh. Yes Master"

Angel watched as the normally light beige nipple burned into a
bright red shade, the heat from the abused flesh radiating
through the latex glove on the hand hovering only centimetres
above. The older male had no idea where Wesley had gotten the
craving for pain but Angel was sure as hell happy about it. He
was glad that Wes had chosen the Deep Heat tube and not the pain
reliving cream tonight. They both needed something fairly quick
to take their mind off the generally upsetting day. Neither of
them were really in the mood to take it slowly tonight. If Wes
had chosen the numbing cream, they would both be waiting for the
cream to take effect on the ex-watchers firm buttocks before
Angel belted Wesleys arse into a shade of red that only fire
engines were allowed to display. Both men waiting for the cream
to slowly allow the pain to begin as it wore off. The only
advantage of that was that Wesley was forced to remain standing
for almost the whole following day, Angel taking a quiet delight
in his handiwork while watching the younger human walk carefully
around the office.

Whenever they decided to take it slowly, Angel made sure that he
pinched and slapped at Wesleys sore buttocks as much as possible
the next day, getting hard with each moan and almost hidden sob
of pain that Wes managed to choke out.

"Ready for a sore arse Whore?"

"Hssss, y..yes Maaaster?"

The vampire stared down at the vision of painful beauty below
him. It was obvious that Wesley was having difficulty talking
as the heat in his sensitive nipple threatened to blister the
skin. Licking at the beginning tears in his lovers eyes, Angel
carefully peeled off the latex glove, throwing it onto the
floor. Large hand wrapped around his drooling cock, he pumped
his hand a few times as he ground himself down onto the other
mans rock hard penis. Delighting in the moans of pain
intermingled with pleasure, Angel slid off his lover's abdomen,
only just avoiding a foot in the face as Wesley threw his legs
open in readiness for the vampire.

"Wider, open them wider, you Slut!"

"Sorry Master"

"You will be if you're not careful"

SLAP.....SLAP

The cracks of flesh on flesh echoed around the rented room as
did Wesley's cry of delight/pain as Angel slapped hard at each
pale inner thigh. Placing himself inbetween, cock still being
slowly pumped with his left hand. Once in a steady kneeling
position, Angel shrieked in sudden fright as his cell phone rang
on the bedside table.

"Jesus..Fuck!!"

"No, no. Don't answer it, just fuck me till I cry"

"Shut up Wesley...Oh, god! It's Cordelia"

Phone snatched from the table by an angry vampire, Wesley
struggled with the cuffs around his wrists. He usually came
from only a few minutes of feeling the metal tight around his
wrists, the more he pulled and tugged at them, the more erotic
it became. Something that Angel really appreciated watching at
times. Wes was pissed off that his one time object of affection
was harassing her boss at such an inconvenient time. Taking no
notice of the conversation between Angel and Cordelia, he could
feel himself just about ready to come when he was startled by
Angel roaring down the phone at the agencys secretary, something
that had never happened before.

"WHAT? What do you mean you can't find Christopher?"

Standing in the middle of the room, cock still grasped in his
free hand, Angel felt small chills creep up his spine.
Christopher would never just go missing, the boy was clingy with
both Cordelia and Doyle. If they were out, then he clung to
Wesley and Xander, both vampires coming in at last place. Spike
being the last choice out of them all.

"Cordelia, please. I'm sorry for yelling, just calm down, ok?
Now tell me where you have looked"

A glance at Wesley still handcuffed to the bed and then down at
his shrivelling cock grasped in his left hand, he mouthed
apologies at his disgruntled lover. He could feel the large
vein in his forehead start to throb. God, why now of all times?
Angel prayed that Cordelia had a huge baby when she finally
fell pregnant, just a little karma for disturbing her employer
at a critical moment. Maybe twins the size of a double decker
bus each? Grinning slightly as he listened to the former
cheerleader reel off each place they had looked, his smile
quickly disappeared as it was revealed that there was no place
left to look.

"Ok, ok. Cordelia, please just take a breath and calm down.
You're starting to babble like Willow. Yes. No really, you
are! Wes and I will be there soon ok?"

With a sigh, Angel disconnected from the distressed girl.
Unlocking Wesley from the handcuffs, quickly filling in the
former watcher about the situation as they both got dressed.

"Everybody is still at the Magic Box, apparantly Christopher
wandered off during Riley's little speech about Gunn's bucks
party"

"I know that, didn't he go to sleep behind a book shelf?"

"Well, thats what everybody thought but they have looked all
through the shop. Every cupboard and behind everything, even
checked out the surrounding streets but he isn't there"

"What? Are you sure, I mean Cordel...aahhh, ooohhh!"

"Wes? Bit much?"

Eyes half closed as his abused nipple sent waves of pain through
his chest, Wesley shook his head at his lovers question, just
enjoying the friction of a coarse cotton singlet on his
overheated flesh. Snapping his eyes open, he licked his lips,
waggling his eyebrows at the older vampire.

"Mmmmm. No, not enough actually"

"Oh, really? Well, we'll just have to fix that won't we?"

"Promises, promises"

"Jesus Wes, one day I'm stick a finger full of Deep Heat right
up you, just to see your reaction"

Slightly horrified from the wave of arousal flooding off the
still dressing male, Angel snapped open his cell phone as it
rang again.

"Yes Cordelia, what now? Oh shit! Are you sure?"

"No..no. hold on, just stay there and I'll call from the shop.
Don't worry, we *will* be there soon"

Curious as to what could make the vampire look paler than he
already was, Wesley enquired to what Cordelia had wanted this
time.

"Wes, I think were in trouble. Actually Xander is really"

"Angel, whats wrong?"

"Cordelia just got a phone call from Robin's sister to say that
her brother is missing again. Apparantly Todd's mother thought
that Todd was visiting Robin for dinner when he didn't come
home. She called Robins house to get Todd sent home before it
got too dark. *She* was told that Robin had just been discovered
missing only a few minutes before hand and that Taylor, Robin's
sister was just about to call Todd's place to see if Robin had
gone over for a visit. It doesn't make sense because Robin is
still house bound with the agoraphobia"

"What the hell is going on. Christ Angel, If they are all gone
then its really only Xander and Jason that are left"

Both men pushed and shoved their way through the Motel door at
the same time, a little embarassed at being caught during such
an arousing playtime. Car thrown into drive without waiting for
it to warm up for once, the classic car thundered down the road
towards the Magic Box and Sunnydales main shopping strip.

Part Seventeen

Raiding the coffee tin for what must have been the hundreth time
that early morning, Joyce could hear Angel snarling down the
phone at some unfortunate person. Who it was, she didn't know
and nothing would have made her change places with them. Coffee
hurridly spooned into a few cracked mugs, she couldn't remember
who had sugar and who didn't. Caution thrown to the wind, she
gave all five mugs a heaped teaspoon each.

"Damn! No sodding milk left"

"Careful Mom, you sound like Spike"

With a gasp, the older woman turned to face her puffy eyed
daughter. A sad smile on her face, she opened her arms wide and
gathered Buffy into a motherly embrace. One designed to soothe
whatever fears her child might be having. It was a fairly
useless gesture but they both basked in the meagre comfort it
offered.

"Who's Angel snapping at?"

"Kate, the detective in L.A. You know, the blonde one who
raided Eternal just after we got everybody out"

A few pats on her petite daughters back and Joyce handed a
steaming mug of black coffee to the tired girl. Her daughter
may be the Boogey Monster for all demons but she was still a
young woman who was going through a tough emotional time, one
that wasn't looking any better by the minute.

Sipping at the sweet liquid, Buffy wondered if it was too
dangerous to venture back out for some milk. Both women jumped
at the sound of breaking glass only to give a few tense giggles
at Wesley's loud apology.

"Mmmm, only Wes. Wondered when Mr Accident Prone would make an
appearance?"

"Buffy! Thats not very nice, not matter how true it is"

Another few giggles from them both and they each gathered two
mugs in their hands, Buffy's empty mug left in the sink. A
sheepish Wesley held the curtain aside for them as they passed
through the doorway from the little kitchenette just behind the
large counter and into the main shop. Joyce handed her mugs to
Doyle and Cordelia before sitting herself down next to Anya. The
ex-demon was impatiently waiting for her husband to confirm that
their girls were asleep after being placed in their cribs in the
little play area Anya had convinced Giles to set up once she had
learned she was pregnant. Buffy walked the length of the shop,
stopping just infront of a yawning pair of witches, handing one
of her mugs to Tara. A smile at them both and she asked how
Xander was doing.

"H..he. Well, Spike w.won't let anyone close to h.him so it's a
bit hard to tell really"

"Mmm. Spike has been total 'grrr' face since that call from
Robin's sister"

Head shaken at just why the other boy's were missing, Buffy
sighed. She had just only walked back inside from another round
of scouring the nearby streets for Christopher, leaving Riley
and Graham to sit with Spike and Xander in her exercise room
that was located at the back of the shop. Willow and Tara had
placed themselves on either side of the doorway, informing
everybody that they were ready to blast anything and anyone that
tried to get past them. To hear that the younger vampire was
still in game face was not a good thing. It meant that Spike
had kept his ridges for more than four hours now and according
to Angel, it was something that was painful to do for such a
length of time without the tempter of blood or sex anywhere
around. She had hoped that the vampire would have calmed down
some while she had been looking for the small boy.

Walking past the two women, door pushed open, the blonde entered
the brightly lit room. A glance at her boyfriend and his best
friend standing at the back of the room, her attention was
focused almost immediately on Xander and Spike. They were
seated in the middle of the windowless room on a few of her
exercise mats. The vampire was growling, face turned in her
direction. His gaze was compeltey upon the slumbering brunette
on the mat beside him. Xander's hand was still clenched tightly
around the bleached blond's black shirt.

Buffy stepped slowly towards the two males, careful not to make
any sudden movements that would increase the volume of the
growling. She knew that it wasn't specifically directed at her
though it was still upsetting to hear. Angel had told her quite
quickly once he had arrived at the shop as to why Spike had gone
mental when Cordelia had informed everybody to the nature of the
phonecall she had recieved. Everyone had been curious as to who
was calling at almost 1.30 in the morning. As soon as the
ex-cheerleader had told Spike, the vampire had dragged the
brunette boy into the training room, snapping and snarling at
anyone who had approached them.

Buffy had been in the process of trying to get Spike to release
his hold on the crying boy until Angel had arrived and yelled at
her to leave them alone. The older vampire had quickly taken
control of the situation. A firm order for both the former
soldiers to stay close to the distressed males, Angel had left
them trying to at least get in the room without Spike dragging
Xander from corner to corner as soon as it looked like anyone
was getting too close. Buffy had in turn yelled at Angel for
interfering until she had started to listen to her former lovers
quietly spoken words. She had been horrified to learn the true
nature of Spike's turning. With a promise not to tell anyone of
what she had learned, she had thought back to all the times she
had seen Spike with Drusilla.

She had honestly thought that the two demons were deeply
entwined with one of the most twisted display's of love she had
ever seen. The Slayer had felt a pang of pity for Spike at
learning of the Twilight Instructions. According to Angel, the
blond vampire had no idea of what had occured while he had been
in his Twilight slumber and that he would never know of it.
Spike was to be left thinking that he had been deep in love with
Drusilla all the time they had been together. It was these
instructions that were prompting the display of protectiveness
towards Xander and for once, Buffy was thankful that the vampire
was with her friend. From what Angel had indicated, Spike would
stop at nothing to keep Xander safe once his full protectivness
had been aroused. If the vampire had to chance getting dusted
in the process, then Angel said that it wouldn't even be a
concern for the blond.

"Spike?"

"Grrrr, snort. Grrrrr"

"Spike, it's Buffy. I have a coffee for you. I'm going to
place it on the floor just here ok?"

"Grrrrr, snarl. Riiigggght"

A small smile on her face as the vampire stopped snarling for
just a moment in an effort to answer her, the Slayer asked if
there was anything else that Spike wanted. At the shaken head,
she backed slowly out of the room while asking if Riley and
Graham needed anything. Riley hefted his large axe into his
other hand, shaking his numb fingers as he asked for a coffee
when a mug became available. A glance at Graham and he upped it
to two coffees. The tall ex-soldier had no idea of why the
vampire was growling at everyone but if it helped keep the
sleeping man safe, then he wasn't going to argue. Graham been
on his way home when Christopher had gone missing, Riley phoning
him to come back and help look when it was discovered that the
shop was clean.

Sighing at the sight on the floor, Graham Miller allowed a tiny
smile to crack through his normally serious face as Spike tried
to continue growling while drinking the coffee. The result was
splattered coffee over both himself and Xander. The brunette
male had only just fallen into a deep sleep after crying from
the moment Christopher had gone missing. Graham had felt his
heart twist at the thought of anyone causing more trouble for
the already lifelong scarred men, it just wasn't right. He
wasn't really their friend but he hated that they were once
again probably on their way to becoming victims of something
nasty again. It had taken almost an hour for Spike to stop
crushing Xander into a corner, the vampire pushing back against
the boy in full gameface whenever Riley or himself attempted to
enter the room. But, bit by bit, the blond had responded to his
Sires soothing words to let the men inside the room and close to
them.

Graham had watched as Spike had placed the boy on the piled up
exercise mats and stroked the boy's hair until Xander had cried
himself to sleep. It was something that was going to spook him
for life. He had never witnessed Spike's tenderness with the
infamous Drusilla, only heard stories about how devoted Spike
had been to her, something that he had often laughed at. After
seeing how the demon treated the distressed boy, he wondered if
the stories had truly captured the nature of the blond
correctly.

Buffy went back past Willow and Tara who were discussing various
spells, the blond enthusiastically telling her lover about one
that caused the body to melt from the feet upwards while keeping
the head alive until everything below the neck was gone.
Grimacing at the thoughts running through her head, the Slayer
walked past Angel who had just successfully crushed his cell
phone into a small lump of plastic.

"I can't believe you just did that! Angel, that's the third one
in two months. We should bloody well start buying shares in the
company"

Still upset at being disturbed while 'playing' and Christopher's
disappearance, Wesley admonished the vampire for being so
careless with the agency's property, quickly closing his mouth
at the black look shot towards him by his lover.

"That was Kate. A man was killed last night and they needed
dental records to identify him, unfortunately one of the listed
dental clinic's had been the victim of an arson attack two
weeks ago that left no records intact"

"Yes, so what does that have to do with the price of fish?"

"Kate called the owner of the clinic in an attempt to see if the
records had been stored in another place. Guess who's missing?"

Wesley was puzzled, what the hell did this have to do with what
was happening in Sunnydale. With a bad feeling settling in his
stomach, he gestured for his employer to continue telling the
gathered group about the detectives phonecall.

"Guy Andrews. The man who did the identification on Randall
Hargraves. All records *had* been burnt with the office and
when Kate went into the evidence room to follow a hunch, guess
who's dental records are missing from the evidence room?"

A collective gasp went around the room at the shocking news.
Everyone had been relieved when Randall had been found dead but
angry at the same time for the man escaping justice and for
recieving a quick death. When the five men had been told that
their captor had been killed, all apart from Christopher had
taken a few days to fully accept it.

"Kate seems to think that it isn't really Randall in the ground
and that it is some other poor prick whose teeth had been
doctored to look like Randall's, either that or Guy Andrews
faked the identification"

"You mean that bastard might still be alive out there
somewhere?"

"Looks that way Cordy, I truly thought the nightmare was over
for Xander and the others"

Silence descended on the shop as everyone took in just what it
meant for the five men. Angel looked around at the gathered
people, knowing that they would be looking to him for descions
now that the undisputed leader Giles was gone. Never in the
whole time he had known the older watcher did he wish for the
other mans guidence.

"I think we should place the tracker on Xander. The sooner, the
better. We still have no idea of how they are getting the boys
but I think magic had something to do with it"

Agreeing with Angel, Buffy left to send both Riley and Graham to
their house to get the neccessary supplies. Wesley walked with
her to inform the witches of the update and to get their ideas
on what type of spells would be handy for the situation. With
Giles being gone, if they had to work any magic, the other mans
skill would be sorely missed and Wes prayed that it wouldn't be
a problem when it came to the crunch.

Part Eighteen

Everything was going so well.

All according to plan, when things were going to stuff up,
Lindsay really didn't want to know or be around if Holland hit
the roof.

But so far, so good.

Fingering the list of people that were holed up in the Sunnydale
store, the lawyer smiled as he thought of the numerous bonuses
he would recieve if it all panned out. He shook his head when
he caught himself feeling torn between getting a silver BMW or a
one of the new edition Land Rovers in racing green. Stupid
really, the BMW would always win out in the end.

"Everything all right Mr. Mc Donald?"

"Yeah, fine. Everything ready to rock and roll?"

As the army green clad man nodded, Lindsay couldn't help the
broad smile that appeared on his face. Hands rubbed together,
he knew it was only going to be a matter of minutes before the
shit hit the fan. Total payback for his hand and the numerous
other humiliations Angel had put him through over the years.
His hand was no longer a problem thanks to the firms warlock,
Tomas. How he had managed to find the lawyer another hand so
like his real one, Lindsay had no idea but he wasn't going to
complain about the small tattoo on the inside of the wrist.

Little over 3 weeks ago, Lindsay had woken up from an intense
dream that him shaking and shivering in a cold sweat. One that
had seen him go through the whole experience of having another
hand grafted onto his stump, he hadn't felt any pain but he had
been awake through the whole ordeal. It wasn't until he had run
the fingers of his hand through his hair that he had realised
just what had happened. It had still been a habit to try and
finger his hair with the hand that had been cut off, normally he
was able to stop himself just before he raised his arm too much.
Unfortunately some mornings, he was just too tired to realise
what he was doing, resulting in him rubbing his stump through
his hair. Quite a horrible sensation. Three weeks ago, the
dream had proved real. He had his hand back and he had found
Tomas sitting in the kitchen, drinking Lindsay's expensive
imported coffee from Africa. A few spluttered questions
directed at the warlock and Tomas had ignored them all to
instead tell Lindsay the price for the new hand.

Only seconds later, Lindsay had agreed to the price. Afterall,
he didn't give a shit about the vampire. What Tomas did to the
demon once it had been delivered into the dark haired mans
living quarters was his own business. The one point they had
agreed on was that the vampire was to be exterminated if it
proved to be too much trouble.

Too much trouble?

Snorting to himself, Lindsay knew he could count on the demon
being a right pain in the arse. He felt slightly sorry for the
vampire, Tomas was one creepy arse man. He wasn't even the
firms original choice of warlock but Tomas was proving to be
most useful and if the man wanted a reward for all his good
service then Lindsay knew his boss Holland would approve of one.
Their original choice had been caught by some top secret
military operation called the Iniative. Ethan Rayne hadn't been
seen or heard of since the day he had been caught, the firm's
head honchos had been most unpleasant in dealing with the two
lawyers who had been entrusted to get Rayne to work for Wolfram
and Hart.

Caroline Finzern had saved herself from being terminated by
informing Holland that Ethan had a younger brother. Tomas was a
fully fledged worshiper of the dark arts. The firm had known
this but had decided to go with the older Rayne who had been a
follower of the Lords of Chaos, someone whom the senior partners
had deemed more accessable and easier to control than the
younger one. Caroline had ulitmately gotten Tomas to work for
Wolfram and Hart, a coup on her part. She had enjoyed the
bonuses until she had disappeared only a few day's later.

Lindsay shuddered as he tried not to think of the numerous
rumours that abounded about Tomas. Since the day the warlock
had started, there had been a quite revolting rumour floating
around the upper floors that Tomas used numerous body parts for
his incantations. Body parts taken from a living human host.
Another prevalent rumour was that Caroline had never come back
from a meeting with Tomas. If that was true, Lindsay thought
her partner had gotten off with the better deal. All Gerald
Winter had received as punishment for his part in the failure to
procure Ethan Rayne had been two bullets in his right temple.

Snapping back to reality, the lawyer felt himself get hard as he
thought of just how much tonights actions were going to piss off
Angel. A few shifts in an attempt to hide his raging hard on,
Lindsay gave the go ahead for the action to start. He was
seated on a creaky double bed in a rundown motel just on the
outskirts of Sunnydale. Only two miles from the one the L.A.
team was staying at. Never had he been so close yet so far away
and it was frustrating the man. In the room next to him was
Tomas, recovering from the extertions of aquiring one of
Randall's possessions. Randall had been made to stay in L.A.
while his stolen items were being recovered. The two that had
returned to Sunnydale had been easy to recover, Tomas just
implanting a suggestion for them to go outside and wait. The
same thing they had done for the one staying at the Christian
Hostel, five hours past L.A. in the opposite direction.

All boys had gone outside quietly and had proved no trouble for
the hired soldiers to collect. The boys were now on their way
to the new holding cells along with the child whore. Tomas had
had to pull out all the stops with the last one. It seemed that
the older watcher had enhanced the buildings immunity to outside
magic until it was nearly impossible to penetrate. It had taken
the warlock from the time the wake started at quarter to 7 until
around half past 11 to break down the barriers. Tomas had
admitted that it had been easier to do now that the person who
built them was deceased.

Once the barriers were down, Tomas had 'told' the child that he
was tired and to find somewhere quiet to go to sleep. In only a
few minutes, the small boy had been curled up alseep behind one
of the bookshelves in the far end of the shop. Only then had
Tomas displayed just how powerful he really was. The warlock
had slowly deconstructed the boys molacules into a barely seen
dust cloud. The cloud had floated along the wooden floor and
underneath the back door, into the nearby park. A few minutes
later, the boy had been standing by himself looking very
confused as to what had just happened. The whole effort had
knocked the warlock unconcious for a good ten minutes.

Tomas had informed the lawyer that he wasn't able to do it again
for at least 48 hours and by then it would be too late. That had
ultimately led to what was about to happen. Seeing the group of
hired goons strap on the extra clips for their handguns, Lindsay
felt a knot start to clench deep down in his stomach. If
anything went wrong, he was sure that his next meeting with
Tomas wouldn't be going too well. Tomas might be still young
and only with the firm for just under six years but he had one
of the most fearsome reputations already.

With a nod at the leader, he watched as the ex-navy SEAL
soldiers pull down their balaclavas and run through the plan
once again. A glance at the list still in his hand, Lindsay
smiled as he read who was going where.

Part Nineteen

"Hold still. Xander, please just calm down."

"Spikehomes.s.spikehom.mespik.k.kehomes.s.s.pike."

In between the breathy pants, Xander was reciting his personal
mantra, not realising he was elevating the stress levels of
everyone surrounding him. Riley and Graham had beaten all speed
records in getting the trackers from their hiding place in the
cast iron bed frame of Graham's bed and back to the shop again.
While the two former soldiers were trying to implant the
tracker, the brunette boy was making things more difficult by
shaking continually. The distressing mantra was occasionally
overridden by the various snarls and growls by the game faced
blonde being held back by Buffy and Angel.

"There! Done, it’s alright Xander. We'll find you *anywhere*."

"S..s.s.pikehomespikeh.h.h.omespikeh.h..h.....Spike?"

On the count of three, Buffy and Angel let go of the vampire
they had wrestled onto the ground and kept there while riding
out his struggling. Tara shoved out of the way, Spike grabbed
at both his head and the shivering male, dragging him back into
the training room all the while snapping and lunging at anyone
who looked at them.

"No-one will be a.a.able to tell t.that there w.was a cut. It's
a.all healed up now."

Thanking Riley and Graham, Buffy ran a hand through her hair as
she also thanked the blonde witch for the healing spell cast
over the spot in Xander's chest. They had chosen that spot
after asking Xander where he had previously been hit the least.
Silence and a few quiet swears had echoed around the room when
the brunette had stuttered out a reply of that he had been hit
everywhere and that different demons had their own favourite
spots. The implant had originally been destined to go in either
Xander's upper arm or just inside his groin, the crying boy
stunning everyone by telling them that it would most likely get
damaged in a few hours if placed in such spots, leading to the
youth telling the room that he had been punched and hit by
various demons on an almost daily basis.

"I can't believe that Xander would say that it wasn't always
bad."

Sniffled a watery-eyed Buffy to a breastfeeding Anya. Swapping
Aiesha to the other nipple, Anya replied that humans always
tried to make the best out of any situation and that Xander had
always displayed a natural talent for it. No matter how bad the
situation was, Xander had always come up with some witty quip or
another reasoning for it to be worse. Just something he had
probably done on each day while at Eternal stated the ex-demon
to a staring blonde Slayer. Upon being asked how she became so
smart, the woman replied that she was currently reading books on
how the mind worked in order for when her own girls started to
grow up. With a nod, Buffy could see why it was more
appropriate for the ex-demon than most people. Anya and tact
had so far never met and would never probably be in the same
time zone let alone universe. Something that would prove to be
embarrassing for the twins in later life.

Angel continued to pace up and down beside Cordelia who was on
the phone to Father Ortize at the Christian Hostel. The would
be actress was trying to establish just when Jason had been
found missing after managing to convince the good Father to talk
to her. Angel had originally tried to talk to the sleepy man
but had been hung up upon twice after growling and calling the
Christian priests a bunch of dickheaded wankers for not keeping
an eye on the youth. Cordelia had quickly rung back after
giving Angel a piece of her mind and a few slaps across his
broad upper arm, slaps that had actually managed to penetrate
the thick leather duster although Angel had winced more at the
brunette woman’s tone of voice than the pain that had managed to
connect through the leather.

Walking back through the curtain barrier to the kitchenette,
Doyle wiped his hands on his trousers as Joyce passed him by.
To keep out of the way, they had both done the dishes as slowly
as possible, the stale sandwiches thrown in the bin as were the
numerous odd looking items that Anya had claimed to be
appetisers. Just because Graham had eaten some and was still
alive, didn't mean that anyone else was going to. Both passing
by Wesley and Willow, they over heard the two arguing if Spike’s
chip should be turned off if possible. Wesley arguing that the
vampire would just start slaughtering again while the red head
was trying to convince the ex-watcher that the vampire could
offer Xander very little protection against humans and so far
that it was humans that were causing the problems. Needless to
say, they were both at stalemate. Each knew that they had valid
points.

Doyle wondered where Gunn was, only to start smirking at the
muttered curses and gasping coming from where one twin was
currently being changed. Although he desperately wanted
children with Cordelia, the half demon was still trying to cope
with the whirlwind that was Christopher. He considered the
man/boy to be good training experience for when his own brood
started to emerge. The Irishman wanted only two children and
had been aghast when Cordelia had considered four to be the
appropriate amount. Doyle had thought that he might have been
lucky for his princess to consider one, four had been a totally
unexpected amount.

The two ex-soldiers decided to leave the vampire and the boy
alone for the time being, just waiting outside the doorway while
listening to the soft growling and muted sobs from within the
training room. It hadn't been a nice experience for Xander.
There hadn't been anything to numb the site where the chip had
to be placed, Tara having to cast a spell that would freeze the
tissue surrounding the brunettes right pectoral muscle, just
under the nipple. Graham had just sliced into the cold tissue
and flesh with a scalpel found in the first aid box under the
kitchenette sink. The cut held open by Riley, the deep in
concentration Graham had pushed and twisted the chip underneath
the pectoral muscle as far as it would go. The tiny tracker
finally resting in the hollow between two ribs, with the thicker
muscle lying over the top in protection. Graham had just about
sliced off the boys nipple when Xander had started in with the
mantra, the former soldier had grown angrier at the people who
were reducing the boy into such a terrified state of mind.

Due to the site being frozen, there had been little blood
leakage, making the job a lot easier while trying to cope with
the boys shaking. Tara had just finished with the healing
spell when pushed out of the way by an over anxious vampire.
She had felt a moment of sadness when the blonde had grabbed at
his head after pushing her. The shove might have startled her
but it hadn't really hurt her at all.

Tara went to sit with Wesley and her girlfriend. The two still
arguing magic users had wandered over to Buffy and Anya, each
trying to gather supporters to their different sides. Buffy was
just starting to look like she was being won over by Willow,
something that was amusing to Tara. Anya was listening intently
to a madly gesturing Wesley.

"Well, then just call me back on the number I gave you if anyone
comes up with any other ideas, ok? Thanks again Father, we
really appreciate it and once again, I'm so sorry about my
employer's idiot mouth. Don't worry, Father, I *will* be
talking to him about it. Bye!"

Phone placed down, Cordelia arched a delicate eyebrow in Angel’s
direction that promised more than just a talking to. Managing
to hide a gulp, Angel instead scowled at Wesley who was now
poking his finger at a red faced Willow. Not of the good
really, like totally. With a pinch to his own arm, the older
vampire told himself that now was not the time to start speaking
like he had graduated from Sunnydale High.

SMASH!!!

Everyone froze as the stores large front window shattered into
numerous shards, both Buffy and Tara sinking down to the ground
at the same time, their blood spraying through the shop as their
heads exploded. Only seconds later, the screams started from
inside the main shop and the training room. Amid the screams,
Angel, Riley and Graham were bellowing for everyone to stay
where they were as the shop played host to dancing red beams.
Years of practice of being placed in danger kicked in for
everyone, the horrified humans and demons battling with the
effort to stay where they were while trying not to go and help
their fallen comrades.

Silence descended upon the Magic Boxes main room as the red
beams stilled upon seven different people. Angel, Willow, Gunn,
Riley, Cordelia and Wesley all had a red dot lazily tracing over
their faces. The only sound was Xander's screaming coming from
the training room, backed up by the almost deafening snarling by
Spike. Slowly it became clear what was happening as four black
clad figures came through the shattered front window, glass
crunching underneath the army boots. Three had two hand held
laser sighted guns equipped with silencers each, while the
fourth was holding a much larger automatic rifle. Hearing the
back door being opened, no one was surprised when four other
figures joined the rest in holding guns at the Scooby and L.A.
teams.

"Everybody kneel with hands on heads."

It was then that everybody started to tell the balaclava wearing
men that they wouldn't get away with what they were doing and
that they would be hunted down and tortured like the sick fucks
they were. The one who seemed in charge smiled slightly as he
pointed at Anya and then Gunn, giving them the number Two each.

"Silence. Kneel with hands on heads."

Everybody was startled when in almost a second, the two former
soldiers were in the requested position. With tears running
down his face, Riley choked as he told everybody to do the same.
The rest of the bewildered and angry group did the same, all the
while trying to ignore the continual screaming from behind them.

"Put the children on the ground, two steps in front of you.
Don't worry, nothing will happen to them, we have no interest in
them. You will then kneel with hands upon your heads."

Crying, Anya complied with the request. Gontuaran placed next
to her sister, Aiesha, by her father. Gunn glared at each
soldier in turn, not quite daring to say the vile words he
wanted to. With a glance at his wife, he felt himself grow
cold as the red beams were pointed at both him and Anya again.

"Ms. Rosenberg, please come forward. Keep your mouth closed and
hands on your head."

Hesitantly, Willow got up and shakily walked over to the leader
of the men. She couldn't believe that Tara was dead. She had to
be dead, Willow had little bits of grey stuff all over her
orange long sleeved t-shirt. Maybe it was mostly Buffy’s brains
and not Tara's?

"You..you murdered Tara!"

"TWO."

In an instant, two quiet snaps rang out in the shop. One
ex-demon and one former street kid were removed from the land of
the living, their girls totally oblivious to the fact that they
were now orphans. Horrified, the kneeling people held in their
protests as Riley and Joyce were named number Three each.
Unbelieving tears ran down everyone’s faces, Angel’s included.
The screaming from the training room was quickly muffled,
Spike’s
Own growling lowering to a level that only Angel could hear.
His
Childe might be a barely controllable demon at times but this
was
where the Twilight Instructions were really kicking in. Xander
had to be protected at all times and if getting the boy to be
quiet was what helped do that, then Spike was going to make sure
that no one heard the boy's screams.

"Better. Ms. Chase, get up and come forward. You will keep
your mouth closed and your hands on your head."

Cordelia got up from her knees, fearing that at any moment she
would be on the floor in a dead faint. She had seen demons and
people killed over the years but never before had she seen it
done with such coldness. For once, she managed not to say
anything and slowly crossed the floor after looking at a bug
eyed Doyle, a slight shake of her head warned him not to say or
do anything.

"Ms. Chase, Ms. Rosenberg. Take a child each and go outside.
Walk into the middle of the street and wait. Don't move or say
anything once you are outside or the number Four will be handed
out."

Tears choked back by both women, they quickly gathered a
gurgling girl each in shaky arms and walked through the front
door held open for them by one of the soldiers. Only a minute
later, five vans pulled up out side the shop, stopping directly
in front of the two women and children.

"Mr Doyle, please get up and come forward. You will keep your
mouth closed and your hands on your head."

Francis Doyle could feel the shock just starting to settle in
and after a glance at his employer, he could see that Angel
wasn't far behind him. As he was told to go out side, he saw
Willow collapse boneless onto the street after being jabbed at
by the driver of one of the vans, Cordelia now holding both
girls. Upper arm grabbed by another black clad man, he didn't
protest his being shoved into the back of one as he watched
Cordelia led to a separate van to his. His last glance before
the van door was locked, was of Willow being lifted and thrown
into the back of a van, a man getting in the back with her.

"Mr William the Bloody. Please bring Scott out here. Keep your
mouth closed and hands on your head."

The moments ticked by as they waited for Spike and Xander to
make an appearance. After a minute, the leader of the black
clad men sighed and with a nod, he indicated for two men to go
and collect the males holed up in the back room. Angel sensed
that this would probably be the only opportunity he would have
to make a move. With two of the men occupied with Spike and
Xander, the vampire started to slowly get to his knees as he saw
that no one was looking in his direction. A glance at Wesley
and he saw that the former watcher had also calculated the odds.
The frightened human was trying to summon up the will to attempt
a spell casting, his fingers making slight movements as his lips
barely moved to whispered words.

Just as Angel managed to be almost standing, he found himself
staring down the barrel of the automatic rifle.

"You know that was the wrong thing to do, don't you. NO! Do not
answer that. We are almost done here so I don't see the need
for more bloodshed."

Angel stayed silent as he glared game faced at the smirking
male. Only seconds later, the vampire was rolling on the floor
as both his kneecaps were shattered by shots from the rifle.
God, he was hurting more than he had in years. It was taking
all his efforts not to scream out loud, worried about the number
Four being allocated. He was sure that either Wes or Spike were
going to be allotted as a number Four, nevertheless, quiet
groans of pain radiated from him.

A thump on the floor signalled Joyce's faint over not being shot
for Angels stupidity. Graham and Riley stayed where they were,
jumping slightly at the gut wrenching screams from Xander as he
was led out by one of the gunmen. What really made their
stomachs turn was the way Spike was dragged from the back room.
From the large rip through the black jumper attiring the man
handling the vampire, it looked like the vampire had actually
managed to attack the threat to Xander.

The blonde vampire's body was twitching and jumping around on
the floor as if he was being shocked continually by a taser.
Blood was dripping from the pale nose and with a massive jerk of
the body, Riley saw that there was blood leaking from both ears
as well. Spikes eyes had rolled back into his head, only the
whites showed as the body shook and rolled around on the floor.

"Vans."

At that word, one of the men continued to lead Xander toward the
two vans parked out side, the other three having already driven
off after being loaded with their intended goods. The urine
soaked youth was followed by two of the gunmen dragging the
vampire. The remnants of the Scooby Gang and L.A. Team watched
in shock as they were placed in separate vans.

"You. I said silence."

Wesley was terrified at being caught out trying to mutter an
incantation. It hadn't been going too well anyway, his voice
needed to be louder to get any real effect, he knew that but had
been unable to stop himself from trying. Coming to an abrupt
halt, he stared as the leader of the black clad men came towards
him. Told to close his eyes and open his mouth, he found
himself frozen until Joyce had three red dots dancing over her
face. In an instant, he complied thinking he was going to get a
mouthful of pepper spray or something for daring to break the
silence.

Grimacing as a few gloved fingers grasped onto his tongue,
Wesley felt a quick burn as his tongue was yanked out of his
mouth and held tight. Only a moment later, he was trying to
scream as best as he could without a tongue. Angel was
snarling and yelling threats at the remaining black clad men as
they went on to remove the former soldiers trigger fingers.
Groans and swearing filled the Magic Box as the two men were
allowed to try and stem the blood streaming from their stumps.

"Angel. You will return to L.A. with what’s left of these
people and wait for further orders. You all have four days to
pack your things and return to the hotel and that includes the
Slayers mother. You will heed what the person who contacts you
says. Consequences will be grim if you don't."

With that, Angel was told he could now make a move towards his
stricken lover, he stuffed Wesley's shirt as much as possible
into the bleeding mans mouth, ignoring the agony rolling through
his own destroyed knees each time he moved. The former watcher's
hands scrabbling at his mouth in a desperate act to try and make
the pain go away. Graham and Riley sat and watched as the last
of the gunmen split into two groups and were driven away from
the shop in the remaining two vans.

Everything had happened in less than twenty minutes, so quick
and yet so devastating.

A check that Joyce was alright, Graham could faintly hear an
ambulance coming in their direction. If it got there fast
enough, then Wesley might be able to be saved if both he and
Riley managed to convince Angel to let go of his boyfriend. With
a rapidly blood soaked shirt wrapped around his right hand,
Graham found his gaze focused on Wes' tongue lying on the floor,
his stomach churning, while Riley had crawled over to Buffy and
was cradling the dead girl in his arms. Dimly, all were aware
of the arrival of sunshine outside.

What the hell were they going to say the police?

THE END