The Master's Lair
 

Willow came to, and hoped that she was alone.  She had come out of
her safe place once before and the pain of what the four vampires
were doing to her was too much.

Her whole body hurt.  There wasn't a place that they hadn't hit her
with the whip.  But the worst part was the raping.  They were cruel
and vicious and only thought about ways to hurt her.  So far, only
four of the vampires had touched her, but she knew there were more of
them than that.

They told her she would suffer because of what she'd done.  And that
in the end, they would turn her so the Slayer could see what happened
when anyone messed with what the vampires considered theirs.

Willow really hoped she would just bleed to death before that
happened.  She didn't want to be an evil vampire and kill all her
friends and family.  "Please, Goddess, help me," Willow whispered.

"No one can help you," someone sneered in her ear.

Willow cringed and tried to pull away from him.  The movement caused
her wrists to start bleeding again.  The pain in her back came back
with a vengeance.

"Ready for the next round?" came another voice.

Willow felt the whip tear into her back again and grunted.  She
watched as another one came around in front of her and smirked at her
before pulling on her hips.  Willow screamed as he penetrated her.

"Yes, scream for me."

~~~~~~~

Giles' House

"We have to accept that she might be dead," Giles stated sadly.

"No!" Xander shouted.

"Xander, it's been three days since she went missing." Giles
said.  "If Spike was right, she was taken by vampire's.  They would
have killed her already."

"Then where is her body?"  Xander was too terrified to think about
what Giles was suggesting.  Willow couldn't be dead.  How would he go
on without his best friend?

"Xander," Buffy began.  "Think about it?"

"No, I will not give up on her!" Xander shouted as he ran out the
door.

Xander ran to the mansion, it seemed to him that only him and the two
vampire's were still hoping to find Willow.  Everyone else had given
up on her.  That was something he couldn't do, something he would
never do.  He would look for her until he either found her body or
died trying.

When he heard a scream, Xander stopped just inside the living room.
He started walking down the hall where the scream had come from.
What he saw inside the room scared him badly.

Spike was chained to the bed, wearing nothing but his jeans.  Spike's
back was a bloody mess, there were cuts from his shoulders to the top
of his pants.  Angel was standing over the top of Spike with a riding
crop.

"Angelus?" Xander questioned.

Angel turned to him in game face and snarled, "Get out!"

Xander had to stop himself from running away.   "Why are you beating
Spike?"

"It's my right," Angel smirked.

"Xapper, go into the living room and wait." Spike hissed.

"I am not leaving you in here with this mad man," Xander snapped.  He
pulled a stake from his pocket and moved toward Angel.

"You think you can take me, boy?" Angel growled.

"I'm thinking I'm going to try." Xander pulled a cross from another
pocket and held it out at Angel.  "Untie him."

Angel reached out and grabbed the cross.  The smell of burning flesh
filled the room.  Angel pulled his arm back and backhanded Xander
across the room.

"Sire," Spike pleaded.  "Don't hurt him."

Angel looked from Xander to Spike and shook his head, before walking
out of the room.

Xander crawled over to Spike and untied him.  "Can you move?"

"Yeah," Spike hissed as he sat up.

"Was that Angelus?" Xander whispered, getting to his feet.

"No, he's still Angel," Spike helped the boy stand.  "I just pissed
him off."

Angel came back into the room carrying a mug of blood, which he
handed to Spike.  Then he turned to Xander, "What are you doing
here?"

"I came here to tell you that Buffy and Giles have given up on
searching for Willow."

"Bloody hell!" Spike shouted throwing his mug across the room.

"Looks like it's just us then."  Angel turned and walked away.

~~~~~~~

Angel's Hotel

"I can't believe Angel's done this again." Cordelia threw her pencil
on the desk.

"We should have known better than to trust him again," Wesley whined.

Gunn sat at the counter and looked from Wesley to Cordelia.  He
couldn't believe how all they could do was sit around and whine.  No
wonder Angel had left, he was thinking about leaving, too.

One minute they were yelling because Angel wouldn't trust them and
tell them what was going on.  And the next, they were condemning the
vampire for leaving them.  Gunn didn't know what was going on, but it
must have been important for Angel to just up and leave like
this.  "Man, you people need to get a grip."

"What do you mean?" Cordelia snapped at him.

"Did either of you bother to call Sunnydale and find out what
happened?"

"Well no," Wesley stammered.  "If Giles or Buffy had needed us, they
would've called."

"Let me get this straight." Gunn stood and walked toward
them.  "Angel gets a phone call, on his private line, then he says
that he has to go to Sunnydale because something has happened.  And
all you two can do is sit here and bitch about Angel leaving?"

Gunn turned his back on them and started walking toward the front
doors.  He would go to Sunnydale and see if he could help.  "You two
need to start thinking about someone other than yourselves."

"Well, that was rude," Wesley said, snidely.

"Ahhhhhh," Cordelia cried out as she fell to the floor.

"What did you see?" Wesley ran over to help the girl off the floor.

"Angelus, he killed a vampire and then turned Willow." Cordelia said.

Cordelia and Wesley looked at each other for a minute, then ran out
of the hotel.

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