Parts: 21 - 30
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~Part: 21~
Green eyes opened slowly and met a beautiful set of chocolate eyes. A slow smile spread across the woman's face as she looked up at her lover. 'Angel's my lover.' Willow brought her hand up to her neck and brushed her fingertips across the bite mark Angel had made. As her fingers touched the mark a surge of heat spread from her neck to her loins causing her to gasp at the feeling.
Looking up at Angel with curious eyes, she smiled as she found a matching mark on his shoulder. Smiling in pure feminine satisfaction, Willow brought her hand to the mark she had made and brushed her fingers gently over the mark. Hearing Angel groan and close his eyes, her smile grew and her eyes brightened.
"Willow," angel moaned her name and caught her wandering hand in his. "Do you know what this means? The marks, my bite, but also yours? You marked me Rua, just as I marked you."
Willow took her bottom lip between her teeth as she looked up at him and then down at their joined hands. "I couldn’t stop myself Angel, I-I didn’t know I'd bitten you. I didn’t mean to hurt you -" Angel cut off any further words with a hard passionate kiss.
"You didn’t hurt me lass," he purred in his old Irish brogue. "It felt damn near heaven."
Willow giggled and looked up at him shyly. "Really?"
"You tell me Rua," angel leaned down and brushed long slow licks with his velvet tongue over his mark. Kissing the mark on her neck he purred against her neck as he felt her rock her hips up into his. A whispered Oh Goddess escaped her rosy lips as she felt her body burn with passion.
Hooking her leg behind his waist she rocked sharply and flipped them so that she was on top. Sitting up as she straddled his hips, Willow rocked back and forth upon him slowly. Gone was the shy insecure hacker and in her place was a tempting fiery seductress.
"Tell me."
"It means Rua, that we are one. You were a virgin and I marked you as I took that from you, and you my precious Little One marked me as well. You completed the bond. We are one, now and forever. You won't age, you won't die, you won't get ill. Every injury will heal as fast as mine do; you'll have me inside of you forever. And if I die my Fire Angel, than you will simply begin to age normally once again. But if we are apart for two long it will hurt you."
"Hurt me?"
"Even know my fire, you crave my touch, my presence. If I am gone from you, away for a far distance for longer than a day, you will feel it like a burning in your soul. You'll ache for me Rua. But I'll never hurt you. Not like that, not in any way. You my fire are my life, the light to my darkness. You complete me."
"Angel..."
The dark vampire looked up at her awaiting her reply. Part of him afraid that she would reject his claim, that she may reject him.
"Can we get ice cream?"
Angel's bark of laughter was surprising and furious. He laughed so hard that blood tears ran down his cheeks and Willow shook on top of him as his own body shook from the fully belly - fully body laugh.
~Part: 22~
"Buffy?" Joyce Summers called out as she knocked on the door to her daughter's bedroom. Not receiving an answer she opened the door and looked in. The bed was made and had no evidence of being slept in, items upon her desk were in the same place that they'd been in for days, her window was shut and her lamp was cool. Shaking her head sadly the slayer's mother shut the door and walked down the stairs and into the kitchen.
Lifting the receiver of the phone, she dialed Rupert Giles' number from memory and waited as the it rang once...twice...thr- "Hello?" a cultured British voice answered.
"Rupert?" Joyce replied.
"Joyce?"
"Yes, hi. Rupert please tell me you've seen Buffy."
"No luv I haven't." Giles' brow furrowed in concern as he listened to the woman babble into the phone. Not only had his slayer not been home in four days, but neither had she called nor had she been seen by Xander.
"I'm worried Rupert. I know she said that you were sending her on a retreat-"
"Joyce I can assure you that I have sent that girl nowhere, least of all on a retreat - 'Hey ya G', " was heard in the background as the door opened and closed followed by another British voice asking the female to wind down some. "Joyce Faith and Wesley have returned from their retreat, well more along the lines of a small campout, perhaps they have seen her. Please hold."
Joyce waited patiently as she heard Giles' voice become muffled and distant as he talked to the brunette slayer and her watcher. Joyce could hear a soft 'thum-thump' and realized that he had the phone pressed up against his chest. As she listened to the sound of his heartbeat her own began to slow and calm, she found the thum-thumping of his heart to be a comfort.
"Joyce? Neither of them has seen her at all. Would you like to come over for a bit, perhaps to help us track her down."
"I could do with a spot of company," she said repeating a phrase she had heard him use on occasion. "I'll see you in a few."
The older woman stepped out of her now dark house and locked the door. Turning she looked into the darkened Sunnydale night. "Oh Buffy, where are you?"
~Part: 23~
Buffy felt herself growing damp as she pulled against the leather bonds that held her tied. The blond slayer was nude and tied face down over the side of a tall bed, her arms and chest pulled flat against the mattress as her legs hung over the side, her legs pulled taught as her feet were flat upon the floor.
"Spread your legs," the commanding voice of Ira Rosenberg sounded behind her. She hear a whoosh and a crack and fire laced in a wide path across her bare bottom as her hesitation caused her to be lashed with the man's belt. "Spread your legs," he repeated.
Buffy spread her legs so that her feet were barely a foot apart. Another whoosh and crack sounded and another path of fire laced across her bottom as he commanded "Wider." The girl spread her legs as far as she could while still being able to support herself.
"Good. Stay that way. You will not question me and when you are in here you will refer to me as master is that clear?"
"Yes." This time the fire came up between her legs, a path burning from across her vulva up over her anus. She screamed and panted heavily as he asked "Yes what?"
"Yes Master," she said snidely, not liking the way he was treating her, but all the same turned on by it. Five quick, hard strokes landed across her bottom each over the same place where her thighs met her ass. "Try again," he commanded.
"Yes Master," she whispered against the bed.
Ira whipped her mercilessly for the next ten minutes and reveled in her cries of pain and anger at being handled so roughly. At the end of the ten minutes he set the belt on the bed in front of her face and gripped her bruised ass cheeks in his hands and spread them harshly as he entered her ass in one hard stroke.
He smiled as the girl screamed in humiliation and pain and set a fast and furious pace, thrusting in and out of her anal passage, her blood creating the lubrication he needed.
"You obey no one but me now. You are mine to abuse, mine to command and mine to fuck. Oh how I do love them young."
~Part: 24~
"Rupert," Joyce greeted as he opened the door. She stepped into his home and embraced him as her pent up emotions got the better of her. "Where is my little girl?" she cried into his shirt and he could feel her tears soaking through the material. Gently stroking her hair and rubbing small circles into her back he led her to his couch and moved her to sit down upon it.
"I'm so worried," she cried, "why would she lie about that, you don’t think she ran away again do you?" Looking up at Giles she begged him to tell her her fears were wrong.
"I don’t know my dear. Did she tell you about Willow, about anything that has been happening as of late?"
Shaking her head no, Giles sighed and Wesley walked to the woman handing her a cup of tea with a bit of whiskey added into it. "To help soothe your nerves," the younger watcher said.
She gratefully accepted the warm mug, holding it in between in her cold hands as she looked into its amber depths.
"Joyce, this is a rather...long and painful story
so I ask that you please listen and wait until I'm done for questions."
Nodding her head she waited for
him to speak.
Giles breathed deeply, letting the breath out slowly as he looked down into his own cup of spiked tea. Looking back up into the woman's hazel eyes he began the sad tale. "A little over two months ago, Willow's mother was attacked in their home..." Giles went through the whole tale from the attack, to the adoption of Willow to Angel and Willow's burgeoning relationship.
Forty-five minutes later Joyce sat back on the couch, her eyes wide with everything that she had learned, her heart was heavy with what Willow had been through - a girl she had come to look upon as one of her own. Hearing how Buffy had treated Willow, she felt her heart grow cold as she thought about what had happened. Somewhere along the line she had lost the little girl who would've given anything for her friends and in her place was a teenager who was completely obsessed with herself.
What had gone wrong, she wondered. How had Buffy become so selfish and so careless and unfeeling towards anyone who wasn't interested in her?
"Joyce you mustn’t blame yourself," Giles said as he covered her hand with his own where it rested upon her knee. "Sometimes, no matter what we do, no matter the goodness of our intentions, people in our care just turn out badly. Slayers more so because they aren't meant to be alive for that long. It could be the limited timeline that is affecting her attitude-"
"C'mon G, don't feed her that crap. No offense Mrs. Summers, but B's a bitch plain and simple. When I first arrived here in good ol' Sunnyhell I sought her out. I wanted to learn from her, to understand what it was like for her to be a slayer, because my life has never been perfect. Everything for me has been a fight. Then I discovered that the only thing I could do was fight. My first watcher got killed because I got scared. I wasn't good enough. But Missy always told me stories of the great Buffy, the undefeated slayer. So when she died I cam here. I wanted to learn from B, to understand what it truly meant to be a slayer. And you know what I learned from her? I learned from her that slaying wasn't about protecting the innocent; it wasn't about doing what was right for the sake of doing the right thing. She taught me that being a slayer is about doing what makes you look good, if you killed a bad guy then you got people lookin at ya like you're a hero. Truth is, slayers aren't heroes, heroes fight because it's right, because they know it needs to be done. Heroes are made from something inside someone - they know they don’t have to fight but they do it anyway. They fight the good fight because it's the right one to fight; they fight for it for all the children in the world so that they can go to sleep at night and not have to wonder if they will wake up the next morning. Slayers aren't made, they're born. Hell they're not ever heroes, we don’t fight because it's the right thing to do, we fight because there's no one else to do it. We fight because we're called to do it. Sometimes, a slayer becomes a hero, sometimes a hero becomes a slayer, but in the end...in the end a slayer is nothing more than the monster they fight. No maybe we're not monsters ourselves, but we're killers just like they are. We hunt, we fight, we kill, we sleep and the next night the hunt begins again. We are every bit the monster we fight, we just use our strength for the good side instead of the eat babies side."
"Did Buffy teach you that?" Joyce asked as both watchers looked on Faith with awe. Neither one had ever heard the girl describe so clearly what a slayer was, and neither one could say she was wrong.
"No. Missy taught me that, so did the vamp that killed her and so did Angel when I fought with him the first time around. Buffy taught me that a slayer is an actress. Someone to look pretty and prance around on stage waiting for the applause and the final curtain. To her slaying is nothing more than a means of getting attention. When I came to town I threatened her spot. She wasn’t the only one anymore. Kendra was here at one time sure, but Kendra left for Jamaica once the big fight was over. But me, I hung around. I became friends with her friends, hell I became every bit the slayer she was and more. I see the fight as fun and as foreplay. Truth is, if I gave anytime to thinking about what the fight was truly about, I'd be dead by now, or insane. Sad truth is, that next to my life before slaying, the demons and vampires and apocalypses appocali whatever - they're a welcome distraction. I'd take this any day over what I came from."
"What did you come from Faith?" Wesley asked as he looked at the girl with concern and wonder. If slaying was better than her home life - he shuddered at the thought. "You've never really mentioned it before now."
When she saw all three adults looking at her expecting an answer she bowed her head and gave a rueful laugh. "You don't want to know," she said softly her voice heavy with past hurt.
"Tell us," Joyce implored.
Looking up at the older woman she sighed and began to softly tell her tale. "My dad was in the Air force, he traveled a lot. Five by five, that was how he would tell the ground crew that his plane was all up and ready to go, it was how he would tell me that he was ok when he wasn't home. When I was six he was killed in a freak accident, he misjudged the tilt for landing and crashed into the carrier Kamikaze style. My mom couldn’t take it, she couldn't deal, so she dealt on me. By the time I was ten she'd broken three of my ribs and fed me only just enough to keep me alive. When she could no longer stand to look at me, because she said I look too much like my father, she'd lock me in this tiny closet in the basement. When I was ten I couldn’t stand up in it, it was maybe for feet high and only three wide. It was meant to store wood for the winter. One time when I was twelve she forgot she'd locked me down there. I was trapped in the darkness with rats and roaches for nearly a month. I'd feel it every time the rats or one of the bugs would bite me. I actually thought I was gonna die in there, I welcomed it. Death seemed pleasant compared to where I lived. I was in hell, death was my only way out. But a month passed and she came down to the basement and opened the door. I'd been too afraid of the rats to sleep for too long at a time, and was hungry from having nothing to eat. My throat was so dry I couldn't even talk, not even a whimper or a moan. She dragged me up the stairs and threw me to the floor in front of her boyfriend at the time. He gave me this...look," she took a shuddering breath, "and asked if I was hungry. I nodded. He asked if I was thirsty and I nodded again. So, he uh," tears ran down her tanned cheeks and she took a shaky breath struggling not to cry. "He shoved his dick in my mouth and said that if I was a good girl and sucked him well that I would get something to drink. I was so desperate for something to drink that I obeyed him. I was too scared and too weak not to. He came in my mouth and said to swallow it all, apparently that was my drink...Right before Missy found me my mom was going to give me to her dealer for more drugs, she was out and had no more money and he needed a fresh whore. The next night Missy took me to the graveyard and introduced me to what she called the 'real' monsters. Vampires and demons, they aren’t the real monsters; I was raised by the real monsters." Faith's tears that had been silent grew faster and a sob broke loose from her throat. Three sets of string arms engulfed her and she was held as she cried for her lost youth, and the three people holding her cried for the little girl who was never given a chance to be happy.
~Part: 25~
"Willow, Angel," Giles greeted as he opened his door. The watcher stepped aside and permitted the two entrance. The watcher's eyes were still somewhat red from the crying he and his companions had been doing not two hours ago. After hearing of Faith's tragic life, her loss of innocence, he and Wesley and Joyce had held the girl until she had cried herself to sleep.
"We came as soon as we could Rupert," Angel said as closed the door. "What's up?"
"We received a call twenty minutes ago...from Buffy."
~Part: 26~
"Willow, Angel," Giles greeted as he opened his door. The watcher stepped aside and permitted the two entrance. The watcher's eyes were still somewhat red from the crying he and his companions had been doing not two hours ago. After hearing of Faith's tragic life, her loss of innocence, he and Wesley and Joyce had held the girl until she had cried herself to sleep.
"We came as soon as we could Rupert," Angel said as closed the door. "What's up?"
"We received a call twenty minutes ago...from Buffy."
The group sat in silence as the two new members absorbed what the elder watcher had said. With a slight tremble in her voice, Willow was the first to speak.
“Giles wha-what did she say?”
“Willow, I’m not sure that-“
“Giles,” the redhead cut him off. “What did she say?” Willow asked again her desperation to know evident in her voice and eyes.
“She said, and I quote, ‘the bitch will suffer’.”
“She meant me didn’t she?” the girl asked hesitantly. “I don’t understand,” she said shaking her head slightly, “what did I do wrong? Why does she hate me? What did I do wrong?”
Rising from his chair, Giles came to kneel before her where she sat next to her vampire lover. “You have not done anything wrong,” he said clearly stating each word hoping to convince her. Taking her hands in his he looked into her emerald eyes that were swimming in tears. “Sometimes, sometimes Willow, slayers just go bad.”
Willow shook her head as her tears pooled over her eyes and made wet trails down her pale cheeks, “But she didn’t, she didn’t go bad not until I-“
“No,” Giles said placing his finger against her lips effectively silencing the girl. “I won’t hear of this,” he said gently, his eyes held a gentle firmness as he looked into his daughter’s eyes. “You have done nothing wrong. Your family was ripped apart on one horridly violent night by your own blood kin, you went to Angel for help and he helped you-“
“But I-“
“Shh. He gave you his aid, he gave you comfort and he protected you-“
“And I-“
“Shh.” This time the call for silence came from Angel himself and he kissed her temple as he wrapped his arm around her waist. “Listen to Rupert, Little One.”
Meeting the dark vampire’s eyes, the watcher nodded his head in a show of gratitude. He loved Willow, the thought of her being his daughter still left him elated for hours, but it saddened him to think just how little she thought of herself. She had the ability to place blame upon herself for things that had never been her fault in the first place, in that he realized that she and Angel were perfectly matched.
“Willow, look at me. You know that I would never be false to you.” He waited as she nodded. Kissing her forehead he continued. “Unfortunately, Buffy was a rather petty girl. She did slay, she did her duty as a slayer, but unless the attention was focused on her she could have cared less. I ignored her attitude hoping that she would change, but instead she became worse, after Angel lost his soul and was sent to hell she became much worse. When he came back his attention was no longer focused on her.” Looking at Angel for a moment he waited as the dark vampire followed his comment with one of his own.
“I saw her how she really was Rua.” He waited as Willow looked to him. “She didn’t care about you all, the four of you had helped her out, you and Xander especially when you didn’t have to and yet what does she do, she runs away.”
“She was in pain.”
“That doesn’t matter Little One. She knew she had people to lean on, friends to comfort her. Maybe Joyce didn’t handle finding out about her being a slayer very well but she had others to turn to. Instead she fled, leaving the rest of you to pick up the slack, how many times were you all nearly killed trying to do *her* job. Her reaction to your tragedy, it was careless, thoughtless and repugnant. How many times were you there for her when she was in pain, countless times, and yet she turns on you, instead of being there for you, she blames you.”
“But I took you from her.” Willow’s eyes looked deep into Angel’s begging him to understand what she was saying.
“No you didn’t. Willow, Buffy and I were over the minute she sent me to hell. All that was required to close the vortex was my blood, and not even that much of it. A few drops would have done the job. Instead she runs a sword though me and throws me to the demons. All she had to was cut my hand and toss the bloodied blade into the vortex that was it. But she didn’t. For all she knew I was dead. Instead of staying and crying out with those who would be there for her, she runs and throws you all to the wolves of the Hellmouth.”
“But Angel-“
“Do you regret what’s happened between us. Do you regret becoming my mate?” He knew it was a low blow but he had to get it into her that she wasn’t at fault in this.
Shaking her head no wildly, Willow grabbed his hands. “No no no. I love you. I want to be with you. I don’t ever want to be without you.” Her tears ran more rapidly as the thought of loosing Angel tore at her already torn heart.
Cupping her wet cheeks in his large cool hands, Angel kissed her softly, pouring all his love into one kiss. “Neither do I,” he said as he rested his forehead against hers. “You and Rua, we’re forever, bound by love, bound by blood. I love you my sweet girl, and I will not allow her to come between us. Not now and not ever.”
“Bound by blood?” Giles repeated Angel’s words as his mind caught up. “Oh bloody hell, you two are life mated”
“So would this be a bad time to ask for your daughter’s hand?”
The three waking occupants collapsed into tired laughter and as everything became to much for the redhead, her cries of laughter turned into great heaving sobs. Moving her onto his lap, Angel held his mate tightly to him as he stroked her hair and whispered soft Gaelic and English words of comfort to her. They stayed that way until the girl cried herself to sleep in his arms.
Offering the mated couple his bedroom, Giles went to the hall closet and pulled out a blanket and pillow as Angel carried Willow upstairs to the watcher’s bedroom, and Giles returned to the couch falling asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
~Part: 27~
Faith moaned softly in her slumber as she moved restlessly on the bed. Her breathing grew harsh as her dreams brought up images of her past, images of a little girl trapped in the dark. ‘No’ she moaned, her voice catching the attention of Wesley who was sleeping in the bed beside her. Moving up onto one elbow, Wesley looked upon his slayer his face troubled as he watched silent tears slip from beneath her dark lashes.
“No, I’m sorry, please no,” she whimpered in her sleep as she head thrashed back and forth upon the pillow. Pulling the girl into his arms, the younger watcher stroked her hair and held her tightly against his bare chest.
“Faith,” he called to her softly, “Faith luv wake up.” With one last high pitched whimper, the brunette slayer jerked awake in her watcher’s arms and fell limp against him as she cried herself to sleep once more. Holding the girl tightly to him, Wesley kissed her hair and vowed that no one would ever harm her again or there would be hell to pay. Rolling onto his back, he brought the girl’s head to rest on his chest and pulled the blankets up around their shoulders. Closing his eyes tiredly, he soon was asleep.
“Wes,” Faith moaned softly as she awoke.
Kissing the top of her head and stroking her hair he answered her. “Yes Faith.”
Looking into the darkness she asked, “What time is it?”
“Far too bloody early,” he said softly as he looked at the bedside clock, its red number reading that it was only slightly past three in the morning. Hugging her tightly to him he told her to return to sleep.
“I can’t sleep, the dreams they...” Biting her lip she looked up at him and caught his eyes in the darkness. “Would you tell me about England?”
Kissing her forehead lightly he asked, “What do want to know?”
“What’s it like? Is it lots of country or lots of city? Does it rain as much as they say it does?”
Smiling down at her, he resumed stroking her hair, long slow strokes traveling the length of her hair as though he were petting a cat. Softly he began to tell her about his homeland. The places he’d been, the people he’d met. It did rain quite a bit, but London got the brunt of it. He told her about the countryside, about horseback riding and the sheep farm a friend of his had. He talked to her long after she’d fallen asleep, and her warm even breath against his chest and the feel of her heart against his lulled him back to sleep. Neither would awake for hours longer.
~Part: 28~
2am found Buffy and Ira in Restfield Cemetery. The clothing she was wearing could barely be called that and Ira smiled as he recalled the ‘conversation’ he had had with the slayer to get her into it.
“Buffy, my pet, my little whore, you will wear these tonight when we go out. Oh and no bra or panties, if I catch you even thinking about wearing them I will make it so you won’t be able to sit for days even with your healing capabilities – do you understand?”
Looking down at the girl kneeling at his feet the older man watched as she nodded meekly. Her naked form was huddled on the ground where she sat on her heels and looked down at the ground. He’d had her locked up in the small rented house for a week now and had not allowed her any stitch of clothing in that time.
Taking his time over the week he had made it so the girl wouldn’t even contemplate going against him for fear of the belt he wielded. At one time during that week the flesh of her ass had been so torn by his leather belt that it had bled continuously for a solid half hour before her slayer healing took over. The one and only time he had decided to let her bathe, he had taken her to the basement and sprayed her down with ice cold water from the hose and then poured a bucket of soapy hot water over her head and sprayed her down again. She was under his complete control and would not even take one step without his permission. He found it boringly easy how it was to break her, it appeared that no one had ever used corporal punishment on the girl before and she would do anything to keep it from happening.
They walked through the cemetery, her short skirt, held together by a single snap at her side, barely fell below the curve of her buttocks, leaving almost nothing to the imagination. Her top was much the same, a single band of wide cloth that covered her breasts and wrapped around her back was held together at her back with another snap. It was easy to put on and easier to take off. The shoes she wore were thick platform boot that came up around her ankles, the moonlight reflecting in their black patent leather.
Moving behind her as three rather large male vampires approached, he moved his hands to the corner of each cloth that held the snap closed. Ripping the material from her body he threw her to the vampires and watched as she fought them nude except for the boots on her feet.
“Well what do ya know,” the taller of the three said, “Slayer’s not a natural blonde.”
All three laughed as she tried to fight them, but without her clothing she felt far too vulnerable and they easily overcame her throwing her to the ground. Being fucked by Ira was bad enough, it was always her ass he fucked and he never used any lube. But now, now she was being gang rapped by three vampires and all that bastard did was stand back and watch. A sickeningly twisted smile formed on Ira’s lips as he watched the vampire’s pound into her, sometimes all three taking her at once. He loved listening to her gag as the filled her mouth. Her whimpers of pain were music to his ears.
Suddenly her survival and slayer instincts took over and Buffy quickly twisted the necks of each vampire until she ripped them off and they were all dusted. Covered in cum and blood she stalked over to her human betrayer and drew back punching him hard. Ira went down heavily and Buffy ran home. Climbing in her bedroom window, she quickly ran into the bathroom and turned on the shower as hot as it would go. The water burned her skin and she scrubbed at her body until the skin was raw and in some spots bleeding.
‘Never again’ she thought.
~Part: 29~
“Rupert?” Joyce Summers called out softly as she stirred from where she had fallen asleep in his chair. The sound of her voice stirred the watcher and he looked to her groggy form.
“Joyce, luv, come join me.” He lifted the thick quilt that covered him and waited patiently as the woman crawled on to the couch in front of him. Stretching out along his form, Joyce turned over and laid her head on his chest. Wrapping his arms around the woman he cared for and dare he think it – loved, he pulled the quilt up around them both and they both fell back into a peaceful slumber.
Meanwhile Upstairs…
“Angel,” Willow spoke to her mate who lay awake holding her in his arms. “She was my best friend.”
“I know Rua.” His voice was sad as he looked upon the girl who had gone from his friend to his lover in what seemed to be such a short time to him.
“I don’t understand any of this.”
“I know Little One.” Wrapping his arms ever tighter around her slight frame he pulled her closer to his own body seeking reassurance that she was safe in his arms.
“Why is this happening?” She asked as hot tears slipped down her cheek and onto his cool bare chest.
“I don’t know sweetie, I don’t know.” He sighed as he felt her tears on his skin. She had shed too many tears and part of him feared that she may never truly be happy again because of it. His demon raged inside of him, fighting against the cage his soul held it in. It demanded vengeance against those that had hurt his mate, Angelus roared inside of him demanding that he kill the slayer and Ira for the pain the both of them had put his mate through.
“Angel?” the small girl asked tiredly.
“Hmmm?”
“Would Angelus ever hurt me? Now that we’re mated and all. Does he hate me for being mated to you?” Looking up at him in the darkness she waited for him to answer.
Smiling softly down at the redhead in his arms Angel kissed her forehead. “No Rua, Angelus is as much in love with you as I am. In fact he wants me to let him out so that he can kill those who’ve hurt you.”
“Really?”
“Yes really, now get some sleep Little One.”
Both the witch and the vampire fell into a deep sleep, each holding onto the other with a desperation born of fear that the other might disappear in the night.
~Part: 30~
Across town Buffy sat huddled on the floor of her shower. Her tears were quiet, the most painful kind and she continued to sit in the shower under the spray of the water long after it had run cold.
The slayer sat in the shower as the night became day and as the day became night she slowly climbed out. Her skin was blue with a coldness she had long since stopped feeling and she climbed slowly and painfully into her bed, curling under her heavy blankets and slept fitfully as her dreams became horrifying nightmares. Nightmares that were real.