Part Three

Angel felt like he'd died and woken in heaven as he let the freezing water pour all over his body and purify his skin. He was in the mansions expensive shower, washing the past few days out of his hair and trying to cool himself down from the intense situation he was in with Buffy. Also, his leather pants had made him sweat, so he'd been dying for a shower all day.

He rinsed the shower gel from his pliant body and turned the unit off, grabbing for his white towel.

He wrapped it round him, realising it was slightly smaller than anticipated, barely reaching his thighs and not long enough to knot around his waist. Damn.

He held onto it with one hand and rummaged through his bag with the other, trying to find a larger one which would decently cover himself.

"Angel?" Buffy called teasingly from the other room. She'd been doing it all evening, calling him to her, for him to find her sticking her tongue out or giving him the finger. He was getting pretty sick of it, but was too preoccupied to deal with Buffy's bad, bad attitude for the moment.

He had to get ready to meet the Scooby Gang at Giles' house.

With Buffy gone missing, he'd been begged to go back to Sunnydale and help find her, and naturally he had to agree. It would have looked weird if he didn't. So he pretended he was driving down there, which gave him time to change his clothes and have a shower before leaving.

Why? Well leather pants were Angelus' trademark. If he visited with these babies on, it was bound to raise suspicion. He needed to wear some loose trousers instead, something brooding.

"Angel!" Buffy repeated.

Angel growled. He turned and accidentally dropped his towel, which promptly fell to the floor. Picking it up, he had an inspired idea how to shut Ms. Summers up.

"I'm coming, my love" he shouted to her.

He held it back in place and walked into the hall.

"Finally, take your goddamn time wh-"

Buffy's jaw hit the floor.

She watched as he sexily sauntered across the room. Slowly. Slow motion. Very slow. A simple piece of bath towel wrapped around his waist. A *small* piece of cloth which wasn't really doing its job in hiding things.

She eyed him appreciatively. His wet, spiky hair, tear drops of water spotted over his shoulders, his bare chest and his long, powerful legs.

Angel grinned. He leant over her, showing off his naked skin, letting her smell him. He watched as Buffy rocked her head up and down, staring at his chest, eyes wide, tongue creeping. For a second, he thought… hell, she was! Buffy was drooling!

She wanted to just reach out and lick the water from him, but the chains, and her sanity, stopped her. Buffy caught herself. What was she doing? This was *her* plan to make him insanely hot under the collar *or the bath towel* and it was so evil of him to just steal it like that.

She made a point of faking retching noises, just to wipe that smile from his face. It didn't work though, he smiled more.

Fine. He was going to be in a world of pain when she was through with him. Angel was going down.

How many times had she promised that since waking up in his home-made dungeon? The more she dallied, the longer Angel held the court.

At this point in time, Angel had moved away and picked up the two shirts lying ready on his sofa.

"What one do you think?" he asked in that innocent voice of his. "I'm trying to go with the non-insane look tonight, and don't know what says it better. Blue is kind of calming, don't you think?"

"Yes" Buffy agreed "But it turns you into a weird looking Sailor. I'd go with black."

"Black? Are you sure? It's so repetitive"

"I really don't think you should risk anything else, lover. The other colours don't bring out your eyes."

"Gee, thanks" Angel kindly.

"I'd balance it out if you wanna try the blue though" Buffy added, raising her hand and clawing it in indication.

"Such anger." Angel retorted without a beat "Maybe a few hours alone will make you see the error of your ways, hey, lover?"

Angel picked the black shirt, kissed Buffy on the cheek and walked to his bedroom.

"Seeing as I'm going to be hanging around with your friends for a while, do you want me to pass on any messages of regret?" he shouted back to her as he go changed.

"Yeah- tell them I regret dating that human-killing vampire for three years"

Angel walked back in, trousers on, buttoning his shirt up.

"Maybe not then" he replied, "But I could always grab you some clothes if you want. A few sweaters maybe. It can get cold here in the mansion"

Buffy silently nodded. Angel jumped onto her, arching his back and standing on all fours, which imitated a cat in appearance. Their bodies didn't touch, but Angels predatory shape slightly unnerved her.

"So what do you want?" Angel asked, moving as if to kiss her neck.

Buffy leant as far forward as her chains could creak. She put on a thoughtful face, then conspiratorially lowered her voice.

"The red silk lingerie that Riley brought me after we first had sex." She whispered.

Angel stopped what he was doing, and moved his head back to look at Buffy.

*Good. I hope this hurts like hell*

Buffy pouted. "It has so many sweet memories for me, we tried it out the very next night. He loved it, kept screaming my name as we made love. Oh Buffy! Buffy! Goddess Buffy! He kissed every square centimetre of that material and more in one lousy night than I think has happened in any other relationship. Even Parker, who I slept with soon after we broke up, didn't make me feel like the woman Riley does."

She closed her eyes, loving every moment that she felt Angel's happiness slide down.

"Making love with Riley. His body moaning in rhythm to mine. His screams of ecstasy that echoed through the hallway. I drink him like a squishee every night. And by having the sexy underwear I put on for him, just him, it'd feel like he's here with me right now…"

A moments silence.

Monologue over, Angel jumped off her.

"Is sex all you think about?" he growled, looking away.

"Yeah, 24/7. Although I gotta say, never used chains before with Riley. We've experimented with handcuffs though. Damn things kept breaking. Ever tried eating food off somebody else body? Woah, that's hot. Riley once was covered with chocolate and cherries-"

Angel saw red. He spun around and thrust Buffy against the wall, hard.

"STOP IT!" He shouted in a masculine tone.

"Or what?" Buffy smirked, odd in such a circumstance, which made Angel think of his long dead sire Darla.

"Or I'll drain your boyfriend and throw him into a river."

"You think I'd care if you did that?" Buffy asked, eyes laughing.

"No, I don't think you care about Riley one bit"

Buffy nodded. "You're probably right. But I enjoy the sex, the constant hot candle worthy sex. He might not be lively company, but he does have man parts that aren't past their 200 year guarantee"

She was serious?

"You're a bitch, Buffy." Angel said through locked teeth

"Yeah, well you're a psycho."

Angel threw her down onto the floor, chains rattling like a swarm of mice.

"I think its time we start with your deprogramming now." He snarled.

Buffy glared back. "No way. I'm staying like this"

"Rules of the game. Answer me back with insults and you get punished. Fail to impress me and you get punished. Do what you're told and you'll be free by the end of the week"

"When Riley says that, it sounds sexier."

Angel reacted. He pinned himself onto her body, holding strong enough so she couldn't move. He grabbed her top and untenderly slipped his hand underneath. Buffy felt her heart start to pump harder. What was he doing?

"Stop it!" she shouted, tingling all over as his hand began probing her.

"I say the rules, Buffy. You follow them."

"Or what, you'll start groping me?"

"Sex seems to be the only way you'll listen"

Buffy laughed. "Shame you can't perform then, isn't it?"

"You'd be surprised" Angel said, tightening his grip on her skin. "Now repeat after me. 'I want to stop being selfish'."

His other hand held onto her waist, drumming his fingers impatiently. One hand tickled while the other...

Buffy wanted him to go on, but she wanted him to stop. She moaned involuntarily. He kept on doing this to her. Using his power to keep her in her place. But he'd met his match with Buffy.

*When I get hold of the whip, he'll be begging like Oliver Twist.*

The only way to have that chance was to get out of the chains. And to do that she had to play along, pretend she was going to give up being Spordelia.

Buffy sucked in her pride.

"I want to stop being.. s- so selfish" she managed to stutter, growing hot with Angels intense touch on her body.

"That's a good girl" Angel smiled, retracting the hand to her belly button, and stroking it. "Now say that you care about other people"

Buffy wriggled with her chains again, but to no avail.

"I care about…" she stopped. It was killing her.

Angels hand crept back up her top again. This gave her the push she needed. Literally.

"I care about other people."

"And Angel is going to stop me being a bitch" Angel crooned, caressing her skin.

"And A- Angel is…going to stop me being a bitch" she curled the last word under her tongue and sucked on it.

Immediately, Angel let go of her, satisfied by her performance.

"And you meant that, right, lover?"

"Every single word" Buffy lied.

Angel nodded and walked to the door. "You know what? I might get those silk things you were talking about earlier anyway. You'll need a change of clothes if you're sticking around with me"

"Bite me, Angel"

"With pleasure." Angel laughed bitterly. He threw Buffy a pad of paper and a pencil. "By the time I get back, you should have written down all the reasons why you want to stay the way you are. Then we'll spend the rest of the evening getting you to reject each one."

He walked to the door before turning back and giving her an award winning smile, reading her very thoughts as Buffy stared at the stationary on her lap.

"And don't think about staking me with the pencil. If you kill me, you'll stay here a very long time indeed. I have the keys to your freedom, and if I go poof, I'm betting you still won't be able to undo those chains"

To demonstrate, he showed her the said key- silver and shiny and strong – then placed it in full view on the mantlepiece at the other side of the room.

Content, Angel left. The key stared at Buffy evilly. Angel was the king of taunters but this was really cruel.

She began to try and break her bonds again, but unfortunately the shackles held on tight.

She wasn't going to be leaving that night, which meant she had an extra day of mind games before her next chance of escape- and what was worse was she was enjoying it.

The notebook looked ominous in the moonlight, waiting to discover all of Buffy's secrets.

She picked it up and pondered. And then she began to write.

Part Four

**********

Giles paced around his living room, beside himself with grief.

The room was mainly silent- Willow and Xander talking in short whispers, Tara sipping her coke shyly, Anya with a disinterested blank stare on her face. And Riley-

*Buzz*

And Riley- stewing with anger in a dark corner.

He suddenly jumped up at the sound of the doorbell, and somehow managed to beat Giles to the door. Ready to meet the elusive Angel, someone who he'd already taken an instant dislike to. It wasn't just because of his jealousy over Angel's relationship with Buffy- after the recent debacle with Faith, Riley needed a scapegoat for his problems. And Buffy's evil ex boyfriend sounded an obvious choice.

He flung open the door, ready to give Angel grief. The brooding vampire stood there on the doorstep for a moment, trying to work out who the hell the kid who'd opened the door with a big glare was.

Then he realised.

"Angel!" Riley exclaimed.

"Riley!" Angel replied.

Then his fist flew out, and Angel uppercut Riley in the chin- making the commando fly across the room and land against Giles' table in severe pain.

Angel walked nonchalantly into the room, not noticing the siege of staring eyes which were silently focused on him. No one moved to help Riley, both because none of them actually liked Riley and because they were frozen to their spots.

But everyone did unconsciously step back from Angel- they hadn't seen him let rip like that for a while, and didn't want to be in striking distance.

Angel glanced around, and recognised the stiffness.

"What?" he asked, a little boy voice "Punk deserved it- he slept with Faith."

Riley managed to stagger back up and point one finger at the vampire.

"Buffy didn't run out because of me, though" he spluttered

"Why should she?" Angel smiled, walking towards him "Her sex addiction needs to be satisfied somehow."

Murmurs of shock, agreement and disgust breezed through the room.

"So if that's the case, why did you slug me?" Riley asked, ignoring the chatter.

"Because I'm hurting for her, that's why. Normally, you'd be toast by now"

Giles was about to turn referee, when Spike came out from the kitchen area, carrying his daily bottle of blood.

Angel turned, and nodded.

Spike nodded back, a silent welcome between two friends/family members/enemies. But Spike was confused. Something was odd. No, wrong. What was it?

"Angel " Giles said pointly, trying to draw back the vampires attention "We don't know what to do, she's just gone! We have checked out all her local haunts without luck, maybe we should try somewhere she used to go… like the mansion or-"

"Don't go there" Angel said without beat. They looked at him, waiting for an explanation. "Uh… I checked it out on the way?" Angel offered.

They fell for it. Giles nodded, grateful. "I keep thinking… she's lying dead somewhere…"

Xander made a 'pssht' noise.

"Sure, Giles. Let's delude ourselves some more, shall we? Remember all those times Buffy saved our butts and think 'god, knowing her she's out saving someone right now'! We're talking about BUFFY. Our sane Slayer is probably living it up in some night-club forgetting what time it is"

"No she's not."

Everyone turned around, and Willow stood up, flicking a strand of red hair behind her ears in her usual anticipation of trying to control her emotions before a row.

"Where is she then?" Angel asked nervously.

"It's obvious, isn't it? Off sulking somewhere. Probably still in LA, in a motel, big grin on her face, thinking about all the worrying we're going through back here."

"You think she'd do that?"

"I don't think it, I know it. Ever since… Ever since meeting…"

Willow glanced at Riley.

"…she's been different. Self obsessed."

"She's always been self obsessed" said Anya in a throwaway comment.

"Yeah, but more so. Like when I broke up with Oz… when Oz *left* me. She gave me support for maybe one night, then just left me to get on with it on my own. She was supposed to be my best friend, but she didn't care about my angst. Always comparing it to her own woes. You, Angel, and her 'sealed fate'. No matter what problem I have, it's like hers is 10 times more and that I shouldn't be bothering her with my below apocalyptic woes. So don't tell me she's merely forgotten the time, Xander. She's out there. And she's mocking us."

Agitated, she sought comfort in Tara's arms. Xander shook his head in a defeatist way.

"I know where you're coming from Will, but it adds up to the same. Where-ever she is, she's only got her self interests at heart..."

"What do you mean?" Angel asked him.

Xander stopped his sentence. "What?"

"How you know where Willow's coming from?"

"Just that. I've been getting the 'I'll only talk to you if the conversation involves me' brush off for months. I don't go to college, so I'm not relevant to her anymore. She only talks to me about demons. Not even. "

It obviously cut deep. Xander regained focus.

"Anyway, I reckon what happened was this: She had a little fight with our favourite vamp Angel, and, because she can, she's decided to take her anger out on us lot. By going AWOL."

"How did you know about our fight?" Angel immediately piped in.

Spike thoughtfully lifted his cup to his lips.

"Twenty questions much?" Anya sighed, bored.

"Apart from the obvious? She phoned Willow."

"When?" Angel asked. This was leading to a problem…

"Well, not *me* me, she phoned our room and left a message." Willow grated

"When? What did she say?"

Angel clenched his fingers.

Spike continued slurping.

"Didn't you know? Buffy has a mobile. She said she was calling from a bus stop. You two had a major painful quarrel, Faith was a psycho who had changed you into the male version and you ordered her out of town. She was fuming."

If vampires had blood, Angels would be seeping from his face right now.

"Mobile?" he whispered, mentally trying to think back and remember if she had one with her when he shackled her, and whether she had access to it right now. All alone in the mansion.

He looked at Giles' phone, expecting it to jump to life. What if-

He must have asked the 'What if' out loud, as Giles patted Angel's back in sympathy. Which showed how much these two men had changed.

"Good idea Angel, but I've already tried. It's not switched on."

Relief. Angel relaxed.

"But it's good to know I'm not the only one actually concerned with her safety. Everyone here seems convinced she's having the time of her life."

"Well she probably is" Willow muttered.

"Or she's probably dead!" Giles snapped back. "Don't forget, she's the Slayer-"

Willow put her hand up, palm out, to indicate she wasn't interested. Her, Tara, Xander and Anya walked to the door.

"Heard it so many times, Giles. She's not dead. You know it, I know it… lets face it- if she was, Angel would have a gut instinct, seeing as they were so… close.."

"She's right, she really is" Angel said, trying to sound sincere, but exploding into a smirk.

Spike put down his cup.

"To conclude," Willow said matter of factly "She's my friend and I care about her, but I truly believe Buffy's doing this to get sympathy and concern out of us. She's done it before, plenty times, since Angel left. She wants to know that even though she doesn't have Angel anymore, she's got us still firmly gripped in her hands. She's changed, Giles."

"But-"

But the door was already open.

"If she's not here in a few days, we'll push the big ole panic button then" Xander conceded, a parting shot as the door slammed shut.

Giles sighed and sat on the sofa. Angel timidly sat down next to him, unsure what else to do.

"I do know that she has changed" Giles said, rubbing his eyes. "I was her watcher, but since I lost that job she's avoiding me and what I used to represent. Her life at Sunnydale High. We don't talk anymore. She's like a daughter to me… and it hurts to be estranged like this."

"Do you agree with the others though, do you think she's a bitch?"

Giles sharply looked up. "It's just a phase, Angel. She'll snap out of it. She will. I'll fetch the others back"

What Angel knew this meant was 'I'm scared she's stuck this way, and don't want to discuss it'.

As abruptly as one could imagine, Giles left the house in an attempt to regroup the Scooby Gang. Riley moved from his corner and followed out. He had actually been quiet for the past ten minutes. Maybe because Willow and Xander were discussing things as if he wasn't even in the room.

"They don't like him" Angel mused, staring at the door.

"No, he is a bit of a twat" Spike agreed. "But he seems to be showing more distress than you are right now."

Angel turned back to his 'son'.

"What do you mean about that?

"You know what I mean, right Angel…" Spike said, before dropping his voice. "…us?"

"Just Angel."

"Woo, that makes this a whole lot more interesting. What have you done to her?"

"I…"

Was he really going to confide to a guy who once attempted to slaughter a church full of people during evening mass? Angel still shuddered at the memory of how Spike had walked down the pew, spewing his evil monologue about murdering everyone. Then to be surrounded by a group of god-fearing, cross wielding, holy water bearing Christians. Spike had managed to escape by running like a wuss out the door into the night. That was a sad day for Vampire-kind, although it had a lot of gall in such a creative idea. Spike really was creative, although not as detailed as Angelus was.

"I'm teaching her a lesson" Angel said after weighing up the pros and conc of telling Spike.

"Chains?"

"Oh yeah, you can't do lesson-teaching without them"

"So you left her alone, locked up, while you came here and lied to all her friends?!" Spike laughed, trying to picture it.

"Yep"

"A slayer tied and bound, I don't even fancy the chick and that's giving me all sorts of yearnings which I didn't know existed."

Angel felt that all they needed was a drained, dead body slumped on the floor to make it like old times again. He missed this, no matter how much he convinced himself otherwise.

"Can I see her? Where is she?" Spike asked, feeling intrigued. "Is she in pain?"

"Well…" Angel grinned...

***

Buffy was in heart-wrenching pain.

She'd written that list Angel had forced her to start- why she liked being Spordelia. It had started with sarcastic comments, such as "cos I actually get my boyfriend to rub sun-tan lotion on my back when we go to the beach" or "cos this way, sex is just sex and doesn't involve a massacre at the end of the day" or "cos it beats actually making the effort to care", but as the long time drew on, she began to open up a bit, become more honest.

*Because I can just shut off my feelings and not be hurt again*

*Because I need to be able to control at least one thing in my life*

*Because the same life previously mentioned isn't worth living anymore, so I don't see why I should bother*

*Because if I stay attached to everyone I care about, when I inevitably lose a battle against a demon I'll die knowing that I'm putting them through pain too, and I don't want anyone to feel that. I don't think anybody should. So I'm keeping my distance*

*Because I'm confused, and lonely, and desperately unhappy*

*Can't you see it's just a cry for help?*

This turmoil was killing her. her cheeks had tear stains and her nose was not at it's driest, but as Buffy heard the door open and Angel enter the mansion, she managed to compose herself, ready for action.

"Hey lover" her oddly charismatic dark haired kidnapper said, undoing his trousers in front of her, and sliding out of them.

Buffy was astounded.

"What the hell are you doing?" she asked, eyes wide.

"Getting my leather pants" Angel replied, walking past her towards the bedroom.

Oh.

"I have that list" Buffy said as calmly as she could. She held out the three wet pages of the notebook she used, her eyes averted to the ground.

Angel grabbed it from her and ripped them up without reading, or seemingly even caring. He threw the paper pieces over his shoulder and continued on his way.

The pieces flittered through the air, and landed on the floor.

Buffy turned ice red.

"PIG!" She shouted as hard as her lungs could bellow "How dare you? You know how long it took to write that list?"

Angel returned, leather pants in place. He now held in his hands what looked like a chocolate cake. He leered at her, making her skin feel hot.

"That was to test your rejection and disappointment, Buffy" he said sweetly. "You failed. Also, you broke one of my rules. Speaking back to me."

Buffy watched, chest heaving up and down as Angel approached her. why was she getting off on this so much? It was perverted, disgusting, illicit.

She saw the hand in which Angel didn't hold the cake twitching in anticipation.

She knew its mission, but strangely, she was almost was looking forward to it.

Angel put his plate on the floor beside her and sliced a large piece of cake from it. He held it tenderly on the palm of his hand.

"Your friends have been telling me all sorts of naughty things about you tonight. You need to learn to be sweet, Buffy. You need to learn to be good."

As one hand began its journey up her leg, the other pulled her top up part way, exposing her stomach and part of her chest. He squelched the chocolate into her body, rubbing it into her with a controlled harshness. Then he leant over her and eagerly began to lick and gnaw the chocolate away, tongue smoothing over her body, teeth rubbing against her skin. Sucking the chocolate away. He grabbed another piece of chocolate cake, and pushed it under the material of her top, eyes meeting hers before he continued, making her realise what he was about to do.

He knew she liked it, and that was bad.

There was only one thing to do about that…

Go to Part 5