Angelus had decided on his plan of action. His Judas, his boy, Spike would return to the fold. Angelus figured if he could torture Drusilla to insanity he could torture Spike back to where he should be.
Spike had clearly let his fool head get carried away. He was voluntarily drinking pigswill and loving a Slayer. There was no soul to excuse this behavior. But Spike had always been overzealous. He had needed a ridiculous amount of discipline to keep him in line when he was a fledge. It seemed a little more was in order.
Angelus was going to rebuild his family; Darla was dust and that could not be remedied. Part of him thought he was better off that way. She was a good fuck but as controlling as a fascist dictator and as mean as a snake at the best of times.
Drusilla was long gone and Angelus didn't care to call her back. After ten minutes the fits and the rambling got beyond tiring. He had no idea how Spike had put up with it for a century. She had been useful as a seer but sometimes you had to just make your own future.
No, he would build a new family, one he was completely in control of. He'd turn the Slayer and that would be more than enough to keep Spike in line. If he was feeling generous after Spike had been brought to his senses, he might turn the little blonde witch, maybe even the redhead.
The whelp, his little girlfriend and the Watcher would die of course. Angelus had stopped off at the Watcher's apartment as soon as dusk fell and drugged him to the gills. Watchers were a tricky bunch and he would put it past this one to have a few tricks up his sleeves.
* * *
The sun was officially set. Buffy stood at the window and pulled back the curtain, “We have to look for him.”
Spike pulled on his coat, “Right then. We should start at the caves where those soldiers hang their hats. If there's no sign of him, we'll head back here and fetch the girls, they should be back from class by then.”
Buffy pulled on her own jacket, “We'll break off into groups and get Xander, Anya and Giles if we don't find him. There are only so many places in this town he could be. Actually, you head to the soldier hang out, I'll go down to campus. We'll cover twice the ground and two heads are better than one. Or rather four heads are better than two. Or, if we get the others, than seven heads are better than- O.K, Buffy shut up.”
Spike smirked and kissed her thoroughly, “We'll meet at the bench in an hour. Be careful, love.”
Buffy smirked, “Who are you telling to be careful? You're the one who tripped over poor Zebidiah Jones' tombstone on patrol last week and gave himself a black eye.”
“As I recall there was a certain amount of distraction involved. Someone was wearing a skirt of debatable appropriate length for vamp-dusting.” Spike touched his forehead to hers and grinned.
“Oh, so the skirt doesn't meet your approval? I wouldn't want you all uncomfortable.” Buffy grinned back saucily.
Spike moved in a little closer and caught himself, he shook his head and took a step back, “I'm about to get a lot uncomfortable and we need to get a move on.”
Buffy pouted prettily, “See you in an hour. A whole stinking hour.”
Spike waved, walking backwards and nearly into a ditch. Buffy giggled and dashed off before she got tempted to drag him into said ditch and no one would get any searching done.
* * *
Buffy was walking towards the science building when she blacked out. She was on the ground all of a sudden, feeling remembered pain and looking up into Angel's leering face.
Her vision started to blur and the edges browned out, all she could think of was, 'how?'
* * *
Spike arrived at an empty bench very worried. The caves were blackened shells of their former glory. The place was deserted. Part of him was wondering if it could be Angel, out for revenge, that didn't sound like the ensouled one at all though.
Which was what worried him.
Inklings of things he didn't want to consider tickled the edges of his mind. He needed to discuss them with Buffy before he even considered them a reality.
But the bench was empty. He lifted his nose to the air and started tracking.
It took him no time at all to pick up her scent. He found a big clue around a patch of disturbed gravel. She'd fallen here, but why?
He smelled Angel and saw red. Forcing himself to calm down and focus, he smelled the telltale faint smoky scent of electrocution.
All the pieces fell into place and he knew Tara and Willow weren't going to be coming home either.
* * *
Angelus was bored. All his prisoners were fully conscious, totally helpless, and utterly annoying. He'd positioned minions around key figures at close distances so Spike could no launch a surprise attack. He couldn't defend three people at once on different sides of the room.
The turning process couldn't happen until Spike was there to appreciate the horror.
What to do, what to do?
“So, Evil Again Dead? Is there like, a point to this or are we one some kind of reality show your hosting?” Xander spoke around a painfully swollen lip and consequently lisped rather heavily.
Bingo.
“I don't know. I was thinking of a few things I could do to pass the time before the guest of honor arrives.” The boy's fear was impossibly arousing. Angelus felt himself harden and smiled. It wasn't a nice one.
He unchained the whelp and hauled him bodily across the floor, he was the only one who could be allowed free of restraints, simply because he was absolutely no threat.
He tossed him across the stone floor near a large table, “Let's see, what haven't I done in a while?”
“Save it, Angelus. You won't win. You never do. Haven't you figured that out yet?” Buffy taunted, trying to draw the vampire's attention away from her prone friend.
“Oh, that was then, this is now. You want to know what the greatest victory is, Buff? Breaking someone to the point where they don't even want to defend themselves anymore. They just sort of curl up into a little ball of pathetic whimpering torn flesh and plead for mercy. Want to know how long it'll take me to do that to your little friend?”
Buffy struggled to remain calm. This looked pretty bad. Very Bad. O.K, very, very, very bad. Spike was the only one free and he could do anything to help them while they were so heavily guarded. He made one move against Angelus and Tara would have her throat torn out by a minion. Or Willow would. Or she would.
She couldn't keep her eyes away from the center of the room, even if she felt it would be like watching a very messy train wreck. What was he going to do? There was an array of torture devices mounted on the wall. Angelus walked right by them. As he passed a cat o' nine tails Buffy cringed, but he walked right by.
He stood right behind Xander, who was struggling to his feet and picked him up, he bent him over the table and let his erection dig into the boy's back, “You ever taken up the ass, Xander? Ever bent over for a jock in the locker room? Ever had an uncle who was just a little too friendly?”
Angelus felt the boy start to shake. He was dead on target as usual. He found one of the boy's biggest fears without even trying. This was going to be fun.
“What are you doing, you sick bastard?” Buffy shouted from the rear wall where she had a perfect view of Angel yanking down Xander's plaid pajama pants.
“No-you can't do this-you can't-“ Xander was babbling now, Angel had him pinned to the table, the harsh, unyielding marble pressing into his face, obscuring his words.
As Angel undid his own pants and dropped them, he continued almost conversationally, “You know, Spike was a virgin when I first got him. All soft and innocent. Look at him now, maybe I'm doing you a favor.”
As he positioned himself at the shaking boy's opening a familiar voice rang out, “Angelus, I thought you were better than that, taking sloppy replacements. What would Darla say if she could see you now?”
Spike strolled in as if he owned the room and was utterly bored by it's occupants.
* * *
When he saw the activity in the room through the window, Spike had surprised himself by not hesitating for a moment.
He couldn't fight Angelus now, not while he had everyone he loved at his mercy.
But he could keep the boy safe.
Spike had been in that position more times than he cared to count. You were never the same afterwards.
So he strolled in, playing his part, a part he knew so well it was frightening. He played Angelus' whore.
He shifted his hips slightly in a way he knew the older vampire would find irresistible. What he had said was true; Angelus wouldn't bother with a lesser victim if he had his favourite on hand.
Spike swallowed his fear and his rather strong desire to avoid this at all costs. If he had to be violated in front of everyone to keep the monster sated and away from his friends, he would do it.
The thing he really worried about was if they would ever be able to look at him the same ever again afterward.
* * *
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