**********
“Angel!” The frantic scream woke Angel from a sound
slumber. As he blinked his eyes open, he was
surprised to find a body curled up possessively next
to his. The redhead beside him stirred slightly,
snuggling up to him contentedly. Angel couldn’t help
but smile in response. He reached down to stroke the
soft red locks when another scream echoed from the
hotel lobby. “Angel!”
Sighing, Angel slipped out of bed as quickly and
quietly as possible. He sorted through the pile of
discarded clothes to pull on a pair of boxers.
Grabbing his robe on the way up the stairs, the dark
vampire went to answer Cordelia’s frantic call.
“What is it?” Angel said. He glanced around the lobby
cautiously, but saw no one but his three assistants.
“What is it?” Cordelia exclaimed. “It’s Willow.
She’s gone. She’s disappeared. What happened last
night? You were supposed to work things out. Did you
throw her out?”
“No!” Angel replied hurriedly. He took an unnecessary
breath and ran a hand through his hair. “Willow is
fine, guys. Trust me.”
“Well then where is she?” Cordelia demanded.
“She spent the night with you, didn’t she?” Wesley
asked softly. Angel’s sheepish look was all the
answer the former watcher needed.
Cordelia nearly tripped over her own feet as she
backpedaled away from her boss. “Are you out of your
mind?”
“Relax, babe. Willow did the spell, right? Angel’s
soul is permanent now. It’s permanent, right?” Gunn
asked.
“Well, I’ve still got it if that’s what you’re
asking.” Angel replied. He took another deep breath
before continuing. “It’s hard to explain, but the
bond between sire and childe, well, it’s very…”
“Very what?” Cordelia asked.
“It’s very powerful. And it can be very complicated,”
Wesley offered. “Especially if there are other
childer to consider, which fortunately there aren’t in
this case.”
“Right.” Angel glanced around at his assistants,
noting their obvious discomfort. “I’m not even sure
myself what’s happening right now. But just believe
me when I say that my soul is safe.”
“What about Willow’s?” Gunn asked.
“She’s still asleep, so I don’t know for sure. But
the spell is the same so she should be fine. Maybe
you guys should take the day off. Just give us a
little time to sort things out, to talk a little bit.”
“Hey, no problem here. I’m so out of here,” Cordelia
replied. She scooped up her bag and headed for the
door. Gunn shrugged and followed her.
“Angel,” Wesley said carefully. “Be careful. Willow
is new to the whole vampire lifestyle, and she may not
understand the full ramifications of the bond you two
share. I would hate to see her get hurt as a result.”
Angel nodded solemnly. Wesley gave him a quick nod
before leaving.
Willow was awake when Angel walked back down the steps
to his bedroom. She gasped in surprise to see the
dark vampire and frantically dove under the covers.
“I’m sorry about last night, Angel. I shouldn’t
have…”
Angel moved to the bed and held a finger to her lips,
silencing the redhead in mid-babble. “There is
nothing to be sorry for, Willow. You are my childe,
and what happened between us is perfectly natural. In
a vampiric sense anyway. I don’t want you to be
uncomfortable about it.”
“But, Angel, what we did, it was…”
“What we both wanted. What we both needed.”
“But you don’t love me,” the redhead protested softly.
“Willow,” Angel began. He stopped and took a deep
unnecessary breath. He caught the redhead’s hands and
held them tightly in his own. He pulled her into a
tight embrace. “Can you feel it, Willow?”
Willow trembled in the dark vampire’s arms. Her whole
body hummed with the intensity of the bond they
shared. Every fiber of her being seemed to scream at
her that this was where she belonged, in her sire’s
arms and in his bed. It was unlike anything else she
had ever felt, stronger than any emotion she had ever
known. It was consuming. “Yes,” she murmured against
the cool skin of Angel’s chest.
“I do, too, Willow,” Angel whispered softly. He
pushed her back slightly so that he could stare down
into the redhead’s expectant face. “I told you this
last night. It isn’t about love. This isn’t about
anything your human experience could have possibly
taught you. I know it’s confusing for you, especially
since you still have your soul.” Angel paused and
thought for a moment. “Well, since we still have our
souls. It would be so much easier without them,
without the complications of conscience and morality.
But I’m telling you that this is right. Forget that I
was once Buffy’s lover, forget whatever they told you
about true love. This is stronger than any of that.”
“I’m scared, Angel,” Willow whispered.
“Don’t be, little one,” Angel soothed. “We will work
through this together. I promise.”
Willow nodded. She leaned forward to rest her head
against his chest once more. She closed her eyes and
just let herself feel, letting the contentment of
being in her sire’s embrace soothe her frazzled
emotions.
“Willow,” Angel said softly. His voice was low and
seductive, and the sound of it sent shivers down her
spine.
“Angel,” Willow replied. She lifted her head and
leaned forward to place a tentative kiss on the dark
vampire’s lips. He growled softly in response, but
refrained from doing anything else. “It feels so
right,” she whispered. Angel nodded. “Will it get
easier?” she asked fearfully.
“It will get easier, Willow. You’re still young and
that means you need me more right now. And it doesn’t
help that so much time passed before this happened. I
was foolish not to talk to you about it earlier. But
as you get stronger, as you become more independent,
your need for me will subside somewhat.”
Willow wrinkled her forehead in confusion. “What does
that mean?”
“It means I’ll have to work harder to seduce you,”
Angel said, trying to lighten the mood somewhat.
Willow giggled nervously. She sat silently for a
moment, her expression serious. “This is forever,
isn’t it?”
Angel nodded solemnly. “The bond isn’t broken until
one of us dies. And even then it’s not broken so much
as it is unfulfilled.” His eyes took on a sad,
faraway look.
“Angel,” Willow said softly. He looked at her
expectantly. “Show me how the bond works again.”
Angel smiled and laid her back on the bed. Any
uncertainty disappeared as the dark vampire made slow
and tender love to his childe, reaffirming their
connection through touch and blood.
**********
“Buffy, you don’t have to leave right away,” Spike
said softly as he watched the blonde slayer pull on
her pants.
She turned to regard him angrily. “Haven’t we talked
about this before?” she asked.
“I just meant that if you wanted to…”
Buffy put up a hand to stop the vampire’s comment.
“Look, Spike, I don’t know what goes on in that
twisted little mind of yours, but this” she gestured
at the bed, “doesn’t mean anything to me. It’s just
sex, just a way for me to let off tension. We’re not
friends, we’re not pals. It’s just sex. And even if
I did care about you, which I don’t, I’m not going to
hang around this crypt any longer than I have to.”
Buffy finished getting dressed and walked out of
without a backwards glance.
Spike sighed heavily and put his face in his hands.
He should have known better, should have known the
slayer could never love someone like him. He was, or
at least he used to be, a killer. Hell, she’d barely
been able to accept that Angel was a vampire, and he
had a bloody soul. He’d been a fool to think she
would ever care about him. Hell, no one in the bloody
Scooby gang even cared about him. Well, no one now
that Red had left.
These days, Spike found himself thinking about the
quiet redhead a lot. She had always defended him to
the others, always taken the time to warm his blood to
just the right temperature, always treated him like he
mattered. Even after he’d gone to her room intending
to kill her, she’d taken the time to comfort him and
show him kindness, an emotion the vampire had almost
forgotten existed.
Spike wondered what had possessed the redhead to go to
LA to visit the poof. No one had heard from her
directly, only messages relayed through Angel to Giles
that she didn’t want to be contacted. Spike supposed
maybe she’d finally had enough of life on the
Hellmouth. After all, it wasn’t her calling to fight
evil all the time like it was the slayer’s. But he
still wondered how she was doing and why she had left.
If he thought about it, Spike supposed he missed the
chit.
His forehead wrinkled in thought, his sadness over the
slayer momentarily forgotten. It had actually been
some time since he’d heard anything about how she was
doing. Usually, the poof would call once a week or so
to say that she was doing fine. But it had been at
least a couple of weeks, and Spike hadn’t heard
anything. Maybe he just wasn’t being kept in the loop
anymore. He made a mental note to ask the watcher
about it the next time he saw him.