By My Side

Author: Femailofthespecies

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~Part 31~

“No, no, no, no…Please, Spike, don’t!”  The seer begged, shaking her head furiously, as the blonde vampire gripped her bare, sweat slicked hips and pressed his shaft against her tight puckered hole.  “Nooooo, God no!  I can’t.”

She was on the verge of tears and was exhausted as well.  Spike took to punishing her as soon as Willow left and although it was not brutal in the vampiric sense, the girl needed to come and needed rest - Neither of which were in her immediate future.

“Shhhhh…” He pushed into her slowly, whispering in her ear.  “I’ve got you.”

“Noooo.  Oh.....It hurts, Spike! Please…ah…ah… What’s about the baby?” She grunted as he moved deeper.

“Doesn’t hurt the baby, luv.”  He shrugged.  “Hurts you.”  Changing, his fangs grazed her neck, gently reminding her of promised yet to be fulfilled.   “Relax, Cordelia….let me fill you.”

He resumed a human façade, peppering her neck and shoulders with kisses and licks, suckling on the mark from their previous encounter while she moaned beneath him.  Spike felt her relax and inched deeper, uttering assurances of pain and pleasure to be entangled until inseparable.

Her eyes were closed, a tear escaping and trailing the side of her face to her chin.  She thought herself insane, for how could she embrace this pain, pushing back against him, and not be insane?  He withdrew from her, inciting a sigh, of relief or loss she was not sure, and slid into her fully as she shrieked and clawed at the blue satin.

“Shhhhhhh….” He cooed, reaching around to rub her clit, forming circles to match his own motions inside her.  The tension left her again as she moaned, engulfed by too many sensations.  She was light-headed, her core throbbed, her pulse pounded, her blood was on fire and she was filled.   “Let it go, luv…Don’t hold back.  Never hold anything back from me.  Everything you are is mine and I want it all.”

His words, his tone, they did things to her, as much as his touch.  It was never like this with anyone else.  <Definitely not with Gary.>  Her body and mind were open to him, for the vampire to feast upon at his leisure, as was evident when she began thrusting against him, driving him deeper, driving her over the edge.  Her body shook and her empty channel spasmed, grasping nothing as the waves, affecting her ass too , caused her to clench his shaft with those powerful muscles and he fell over as well.

Spike let her hips go, admiring the bruises he left there, and she slumped limply on to the bed.  “There now, pet.  See how much fun a little pain can be?”  He caressed her back.  Suddenly he stopped, tilted his head and listened to the unmistakable sound of steady breathing, as in passed out.

He scooted her onto her side and spooned the brunette, rolling his eyes.  It was never fun fucking the unconscious and he had no intention of starting that disgusting habit now.   He yawned, realizing that he’d not had much sleep this morning and allowed a welcome darkness to blanket him as well.

~~~*~~~

Buffy and Willow returned to the hotel, laughter chiming throughout the building as the rushed in as if chased by the sunlight.

“I’ll go get us some sodas.  The bathroom is in the back to the left.”  The redhead announced, walking into the kitchen.  The day had been pleasant, with none of the pressure she’d come to expect from the slayer.  She thought that underneath it all, Buffy still disapproved and would eventually make a play to get her away from her mortal enemy, but for now, on this day, all was good.  With glasses of ice and two sodas precariously balanced, she entered the lobby to wait for her friend.  <Who knew the concept of friendship could get so complicated!>

Interrupting her thoughts, Cordelia flew down the stairs as fast as her aching body would allow, headed directly for the witch.

“We so have to talk.”  Without waiting for a reply she continued, “Spike!  Oh my God…he will not leave me alone.  I swear I didn’t want to…okay, I won’t lie….I did, but he made me want to with his tongue and lips and … oh my God, Willow.  He just ‘punished me’ for not coming back last night.”

“Cordy not now, uh…”

“He’s asleep, in one of those vamp comas, so it has to be now.  That day, downstairs, when you thought he was hurting me, well he wasn’t.  It was all a big trick to pay you back for telling me to go out with Gary.  Instead we had sex, AGAIN and he bit me AGAIN!   I'm so sorry...I swear Wills…Do you think he’ll hurt the baby?  That’s all that stopping him from doing it…”

“Stopping who from doing what? And what…are you pregnant?”  The seer whipped around, raking her eyes over a short blonde before recovering her wits.

“Oh Buffy!  Hey Girl!  What’s been happening in good ole Sunnydale?  Xander? How’s he?”

“Cordelia, I know something is going on here, but Angel’s lips are locked tighter than Fort Knox.  If you’re in trouble, tell me.  Maybe I can help.”

“Nothing’s wrong, Buffy.  Nothing we can’t handle here, right Cordy?”  The witch glared at her friend, defying her to reveal anything more to the blonde.

“No, It’s fine.  Really.  I was just overreacting.  No worries, right Wills?” The seer laughed convincingly enough, but Buffy was not fooled.

“Yeah, no worries.”  Her eyes darted over to Cordy as she sat.  “Here’s your soda, Buffy.”

“Thanks,” she replied dryly.  The ambiance the two had achieved that afternoon was gone, lost to the secrets once again separating them.  Willow felt bad, but knew it was better this way.  Buffy would only judge and react, ready to become executioner, and that could not happen.

“So are you staying over or going back tonight?”  Tension drifted from person to person, tightening throats and knotting tummies.  And although she enjoyed their day together, it was time to part ways and for Ms. Summers to trot on back to Sunnydale.

“No, I’m going back soon actually.  Still have to patrol tonight and then Riley and I are going out.”   She looked over at the ex-cheerleader, pensive.  “I meant what I said.  If either of you need anything, just call, okay?”

“They won’t be needing anything from you, slayer.”  Spike proclaimed from the top of the stairs.  Willow smiled up at him, immediately feeling safe and protected by his presence.   Cordelia, although she would deny it, also felt relief by the vampires appearance.

“Spike, so good to see you too.  Too bad I have to be going or I could take this time to reacquaint you with Mr. Pointy.”

The blonde only chuckled, licking his human canines as he stalked his way down the stairs, all predatory and confidence.  “You can try.”

“Oh please.  You make a move and I’ll stake you faster than…”

A blur of blue and blonde crossed the lobby and Buffy felt her throat constrict.  It took a second for her to register the fact that Spike’s hand was wrapped around it, squeezing, enough to make her uncomfortable, just short of pain.

“What was that, pet?  Didn’t catch what you said.  You’ll stake me faster than what?”  His scared eyebrow was high on his forehead, punctuating his feral grin.

“Spike, please.”  Willow begged, placing her shaking hand over his, persuading him to relax his grip.   He snarled as he shoved Buffy away from him.  She stumbled a few feet, looking astonished.  Willow stepped into Spike’s embrace, to be close him and to hopefully diffuse the situation.

“What, Buffy?  You thought you knew me?  Knew what I was all about because you think you know Peaches?”  His arms encircled the redhead, but she trembled despite his proximity.

Buffy was still dazed that the blonde moved as fast as he did.  She still could not say whether the chip was working since he didn’t really hurt her.  But she had her doubts.

“Cordy, go get Angel.”  Willow commanded and the seer dashed up the stairs, ignoring her aches for the moment, in search of a sleeping and most likely soon to be irritated vampire.

“Spike, don’t.  Play nice, for me?”  Willow kissed him fully and the slayer flinched, unable or unwilling to hide her disgust any longer.

“Don’t touch her, Spike.”

“Sod off, slayer.  She’s mine.”

All eyes turned to the lobby door as a redheaded werewolf disguised as a young guitarist stepped in tentatively.

“Hey guys. Spike.”  Oz took in the scene, pondering what he'd stepped into.

Spike’s reply was a growl as the demon surged forth, changing his eyes to a tumultuous gold.

“Oz!”  Both Willow and Buffy exclaimed together.

“What are you doing here?  I told you I’d call you later,”  The petite blonde reprimanded.

“I was in the neighborhood and thought that was Giles' car was out front, and thought I'd take a chance.  Hey Willow.”  He began walking to her and Spike moved the young witch behind him, not trusting the wolf.

“Oz.  Hi.”  She peeked around the vampire.

“What do you want, dog boy?”  Spike growled, his demon raging to be unleashed.  “Red’s not your concern anymore.”

“I…Willow can we talk?  Just for a moment?”  He came closer, smelling the vampire and his ex all over each other.  The stench of the vampires claim was as undeniable as it was strong.   They were bonded.  “Please…”

“Spike, just for a moment.”  She whispered to him.  She would have to make certain that her first love understood that she was with Spike now and there was no more "them."  She just didn’t want an audience, for his sake.

“I don’t trust him, luv.  He’s more dangerous than you know.”

“Who, Oz?  Only during the moon.  I’ll be fine.”

“Whatever.  Stay inside.  It’s still day out and the ring is put away.” He kissed her forehead and relinquished his hold on her.

~~~*~~~

Cordelia shook Angel.  <Damn vampires!>   He still wouldn’t move, only grunted and turned over.  Glancing around she found a riding crop on the dresser, pulling a face, <Ewww!>, and picked it up, swatting the sleeping vampire across the ass before she had a chance the think about exactly what she was doing.

Instantly, her world turned, leaving her on her back surrounded by black satin and straddled by a demon.

“Whoa, Whoa, Angel!!  It's me!”

“Cordy, what’s your problem?  I could have hurt you, or worse.”  He threw his body over to the left and flopped on his back next to her.  The brunette turned to face him.

“Drop the GRR face...Buffy and Spike are at it again.  You better get down there before they kill each other.  And I am so not cleaning up any blood.”

With preternatural speed and grace, he dressed and headed down.  “Get Mina up, but tell her to stay up here.  You stay too.”  He turned and seemingly disappeared before her eyes.

~~~*~~~

“Angel…”  Buffy called.  It was little more than a whisper, as it always was when she saw him.

“Hey, Peaches.  Your bitch is beginning to be unruly again.  Shall I kick her out on her skinny ass?” The blonde snickered and Willow elbowed his ribs.  “Ouch, witch!”

“Vampire!”  She quipped.

“Spike, please stop.  What happened?  Why are you two fighting?”

“It’s the slayer, Sire.  She's sexually frustrated and is itching for a taste of Spike.  But I told her right off, I belong to the witch.”  He smirk at the growl from Angel who stormed up to the blonde vampire, clenching the short blonde locks in his powerful hands and bending him at the neck as he bypassed pouty lips for his ear.

“I’ll be reminding you who you belong to later,”  he purred, letting him free.

“Angel?”  Buffy again, this time whining, much to the dark vampire’s dismay.

“Oh Angel…save me from the evil soulless creature.”  Spike this time, in a silly high-pitched voice.  He dodged the swing from his witch.

“Can you all just stop it?  Oz…Hi.  Where did you come from?"

~Part: 32~

Spike was growing impatient, a low growl building in his chest.  “Enough with the bloody scooby reunion.  Slayer, leave!  And take the dog boy with you.”  He leaned on the banister trailing up the stairs, Willow still safely behind him, eyeing them all, deciding who to kill first once his sire stopped being such a ponce.

“Hey,  you can’t kick me out.  This is Angel’s home,”  the blonde pouted, arms crossed.

“Now there’s where you’re wrong.  I can kick you out or anywhere else I fancy.  But no matter.  You’ll leave here today, peacefully.”  He lit a cigarette and blew the smoke nonchalantly in her direction.

“Look. Guys.  As amusing as all this is, I just want to have a moment with Willow,”  Oz pleaded.

“It’ll be okay, Spike.  We’ll just go over there.”  She stepped around him, resolved to let Oz have his last chance to convince her not to be the consort of a vampire, and eventually become the very thing she’d fought against.  The very thing that took Jessie from her.  <Okay, maybe this isn’t a good idea.>

Off to a corner, the wolf and the witch stood face to face.  He started to reach for her hand, then thinking better of it, let his fall back to his side limply, lost.

“So…”

Willow smiled, quirky at the corners, awaiting his life-altering speech.

“Here’s the thing.  We had a thing.  A good thing.  I know I had a huge brain burp and did some not so Oz like things, but I still, you know?”  He shuffled his feet staring at her, riveted by her beauty, enhanced by the apparent darkness the vampire gave life to.  Her scent, though permeated through and through by the blond demon, was also more intense as if multiplying before him, and he was lost in her.  He wanted her no matter what she said.  Could he take her into the sun, away from her chosen lover, and convince her to try again with him?  His musings were interrupted by a nagging sensation that he was missing something.  He relaxed his inner self, as he was taught, and focused on his surroundings starting wide, sensing nothing and let it become gradually more narrow, until all he could see, hear or smell was his Willow.

And then it hit him.  Knocked for a loop actually.  Faint, but there.  Another heartbeat.  <She’s PREGNANT????  SHE”S PREGNANT!!!>

Willow watched his face, not knowing what to say as his emotion for once played over his soft, yet animalistic, features.  When his eyes went dark, at first no alarm went up, but he grabbed her arm, which she found daring and stupid, since Spike was right there not 10 feet away, pretending not to watch.

“Oz?”  She pleaded quietly, not wanting to get him killed.

“How?  Who?”  He growled.

Spike looked up from the argument ensuing between his sire and the slayer, trepidation creeping down his bond from the redhead.  He heard a growl from the wolf and moved between the two shoving Oz into the wall, cracking the plaster with the boy's body.

“Don’t you touch her.  EVER!”  He roared, barely containing the demon.

The guitarist struggled to his feet, touching the back of his head with fingers that came back coated with blood.  “Willow, you’re having a baby?  A vampire’s baby?  Or are you fucking some human as well and he’s the father?  Need to cover all the species?  You were always a perfectionist.”

“Oz…I-I”  Tears forming at his harsh words and low opinion of her.

“You don’t have to explain yourself to the mongrel.”  She turned into Spike's embrace, burying her head in his chest, wanting to disappear. <Oh why did Oz have to show up?>  He caressed her back, whispering comforts while glaring at the wolf, eyes filled with hate and unleashed fury.  It amazed Oz how intense and wholly focused the vampire could be on two diverse tasks.

Meanwhile, none of the conversation was lost on Buffy, who had stopped her tirade with Angel about his wayward, and her esteemed opinion in need of a good staking, childe as soon as Spike stopped grinning and moved from his perch on the first stair.  At first she was just making certain to know where he was.  It was never wise to let the vampire sneak up on you.  But her attention was immediately drawn to the drama unfolding in the corner, where Oz was man handling Willow.

“Wills are you?  Pregnant?  Is that what you and Cordy were talking about?”  Her eyes held nothing but concern, all anger gone for the moment.

The redhead looked up, her face wet and Spike wiped it with the cuff of his sleeve.

“Oh Buffy.  I-I…yea.  I am.  Please forgive me.  I was only trying to help.”

“Wills, it’s okay…It happens, not normally with a vampire, but I’m sure Giles will be able to find out how this happened.”

“Oh, I know how it happened.”  She sobbed.

“Well of course you do.  But I mean HOW did this happen?  Uh, what did you mean, you were only trying to help?”

Angel decided it was time for a change of subject.

“Oz…I think you better go.  I think Willow has made her decision and if she changes her mind, she can always call you.”  He walked over to the boy, tilting his head, a hint of a smile once he smelled his fear.  He was close enough to hear him swallow nervously.  “What belongs to the childe, belongs to the sire.  Do not ever presume to touch her again.”  He stepped back, aware that no one else could hear.  “Do we have an understanding?”

Oz nodded, “Yea…”

“Great!”  The dark vampire said much louder than needed as he clapped the wolf on the back, seemingly having been a participant in a congenial conversation that had a mutually pleasing conclusion, instead of the thinly veiled threatening one that actually took place.  “Well, call next time, or try calling her in Sunnydale.  I think she’s going back tomorrow.”

He led Oz to the door and pushed him through gently, but firmly, a sigh of relief escaping his lips.  One down…

“I guess I better go as well.  It’ll be dark soon and I need to get back.”

“Sure Buff.  I’ll be home tomorrow and we can talk.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Oh, for the bloody love of Satan, would you LEAVE already?”  Spike snarled, tired of the slayer and this mushy goodbye scene.  If he’d snapped her neck when he first came down he would have had ten more minutes of slayer-free peace.

“Willow?”

“Yeah, Buffy.”

“What were you doing?  Coming here I mean.  You were trying to help how?”

The redhead hated this.  Every once in a while Buffy slipped out of slayer mode into best friend mode and actually started to listen to what the young hacker said.  Nosey and determined, she would press until Willow finally relented.

“It doesn’t matter.  I helped and there were consequences.”

“Did you do a spell?  And it went wrong?  Oh Willow!”

“You could say that… Please let's just forget it.”

“How can you say forget it?  You are pregnant!  As in gonna have a real live baby.  And ….wait it is gonna be a human baby, isn’t it?”  Spike, Willow and Angel looked sheepish, not having a real answer to that one yet.

“Of course it is”  Angel spoke up.  “Willow, you’re looking kinda tired.  Maybe you should go upstairs.”

About to do as he suggested, Willow pushed away from the blonde.  Suddenly she felt the strong warm grip of a tiny hand on her wrist.  “Willow, You can't keep doing spells without supervision.  Look at what’s happened.”

“I know.  It was wrong.”  She agreed, only wanting to get away.

“Giles is gonna freak.”

“I know, Buffy”

“And Xander.  I think we’ll have to commit him.”

“Buffy, can we not do this now?”  The redhead was annoyed and tired.

“No, Wills.  You need to get a grip.  Magic is not something to play with.  You could hurt someone or get hurt yourself.  I never should have...”

“It wasn’t her spell,” a voice called from the second floor landing as all eyes darted up.

~Part: 33~

“Mina…” Angel met her, stopping the vampire’s descent.  “Please go back up,” he whispered.  “This is not the time.”  He tried turning her around gently, but she stood firm, unmovable.

“Sure it is…” Glaring daggers at Buffy she continued, giving her brother a little push.  He was movable.  “Buffy…You don’t mind if I call you Buffy, do you slayer?”

“Actually…”

“Whatever.  You see I don’t care about your precious little feelings so I am gonna give you the skinny.”  She grinned at Spike who returned it, maniacally.  He loved this part. The shit-stirring.

“No Mina, please...” Willow interrupted, approaching. “Please don’t…not like this.  I have to go back there, not you.”

“Oh, Willow, fuck her.  You think William would send you there alone?  He’ll be right there with ya.  So fuck her!  Now, where was I…”  Willow just groaned and sat on a sofa, face buried in her hands, waiting.  “Oh yeah,  I decided to visit my family because they were in need.  Those needs have been…satisfied.  Wouldn’t you say satisfied, William?”

“I haven’t been this satisfied in over a century, luv.  What say you, Peaches?”  He rested golden eyes on his sire, sauntering up to him until they were mere inches apart.  “Are your needs being met of late, Sire?”

Angel cursed his cock as he felt it engorge with blood.  He wanted to fuck the blond right there. Damn Buffy.  But not knowing how the girl would react to Mina’s revelations, he kept his demon in check, which was not easy, and settled on a lingering kiss.

Buffy visibly flinched, her disapproval and confusion obvious.

Spike stepped away and smirked at the petite blonde he’d come to hate more everyday of his unlife.  “What’s wrong, slayer?  Angelus was crazy, but I was always who they both wanted.  And now he can have me and his precious soul.”

“What?”

“You always were daft.  Without your friends I would have killed you that time in the high school.”

“Spike, stop reminiscing.  What are you talking about?”

“Do you think that there was ever a time when Angel could NOT locate me and Dru?  We are bonded.  It’s unbreakable.  Every time he went on one of your quests to (air quote) find me, he didn’t.   He could have, but he didn’t.  Why?  Because we belong to HIM.  Angelus…Angel…There’s not a lot of difference, luv, and he protects what’s his."

“That’s not true,” she replied weakly, her voice thick with uncertainty.  “Angel…”  Her doe eyes pleaded with him to protest, but none was forthcoming.  He would not deny his childer, especially this one, his love or protection, or his claim any longer.  The soul and demon were at peace with each other, finally for the first time, and he could be what he died to be, guilt-free.

“Angel?  Tell him he’s wrong,”  she demanded, gaining some of her composure.

“Angel. Angel,  tell him.  Tell him that I am the most important thing,”  he mocked her.  “Oh Gods, stop your whining.  Were you thinking of your precious Angel when you let that Parker git have a poke?”

“Shut up, Spike,” the slayer seethed, clenching her fists.

“And will you be seeing Angel when you mount your GI Joe tonight?”

“STOP IT!”  She scream and leaped at him before anyone could stop her.

Spike head snapped violently from the impact of her first blow.  Recovering, he blocked the next two, while taking a vicious kick to the ribs.

“Buffy!  Stop, get away from him!”  The redhead jumped up from the sofa, screaming.  She loved them both and couldn’t stand to see either hurt.

Mina, began chanting and Angel put a finger over her lips.  “Please... don’t kill her.”  She saw the pain the girl’s death would cause his soul, reflected in his sable eyes, and nodded, dropping her own eyes.  His cool finger moved to her chin lifting her golden face and her gaze back to his own.  “I belong to you now.   You and him.  For eternity.”  He raised his brow asking her for understanding, which she gladly gave.

Spike managed to subdue the slayer.  Her arms were crossed in front of her chest wrapping her body as he held them by her small wrists, her back pressed against him.  He was careful to keep out of head butting reach as she wiggled against him.

“Let me GO, Spike!  I am so gonna stake your dead ass!”  She spat through clenched teeth.

Mina uttered a few more words and opened her eyes.  “Let her go, William.  I have her.”

Spike instantly released the blonde, and felt the overwhelming need to shower and remove the stench of the slayer from his skin.  Instead he went to Willow, who was shaking and crying, and sat on the couch she’d just vacated, pulling her onto his lap.

“Red, you have to calm down.  It’s not good for the baby, ‘kay?”  He cooed, stroking her hair and neck, relaxing as her heart slowed to normal.

Buffy tried to go after her mortal enemy, surprise registering when she hit an invisible wall. Testing her surrounding she discovered she was boxed in.

“Take. It. Down.”

“No.  I am tired of your sorry ass coming here causing problems.  For some reason Angelus won’t…”

“Stop calling him that!”  Buffy was beyond pissed at this vampire and could only imagine a stake through her black heart.

Mina giggled and walked in a circle around her caged prisoner.  “Why?  It’s his name.”

“Because Angel is NOT Angelus.  Angelus is an animal.”  She was turned away from the dark vampire and missed the look of hurt and rejection her words caused.  He always knew that Buffy would never accept the demon.  She spent  most of their relationship pretending he was human… Human with a severe allergy to the sun.

“AHNNN…Wrong answer!”  Mina chimed.  “They are the same.  The soul just tells him that certain things are right or wrong, but it’s a human soul so it has human values of right and wrong, which definitely conflict with what I know to be right.”

She stopped in front of Buffy, her green eyes seemingly warm and inviting as they penetrated the blonde’s.  The casual observer would assume them friends.

“And you know what’s right, Buf-fy?   Your death, your destruction…Draining you and fucking my Angelus and William over your dead body, covered in your blood.  That’s what’s right to me.  Letting you go is an abomination.  But it’s what I’ll do because Angel’s human soul tells him not to follow his demon's sense of right, even though he is a demon.  It causes a conflict in him, you see, because he wants to kill you.  I mean he really, really wants to. And he just might if you catch him on a good day,” she laughed.

“Mina… stop playing and tell her,”  Angel admonished, although his demon enjoyed her mental games.

“Fine, fine.  Okay, listen up cause I ain’t repeating for the challenged.  The curse, I altered it, making his soul permanent, as in never leaving again, and merged it with the demon, so he is now at peace.  This took a huge amount of magic and power and cooperation from one redheaded witch over there.”  She smiled at Willow.  “It also took some sex magic, and your best friend had to get down and dirty with your boy Angel here as part of the ritual, and Spike… well I kinda tricked him and Cordy, but their little get together packed enough power to help me pull off what a dozen witches can’t.  Oh yeah – one side effect, pregnancy.  Are we clear, sunshine?”   <It’s gonna be dark soon.  I need to play with my food.>

Buffy blinked, replaying the words in her mind.  Some several times. <That’s what she meant.  And that’s why she slept with Angel!  His soul’s PERMANENT!  We can be together!  Can’t we? And side effects…>

“Angelus, I think she’s gonna blow a fuse.  Not used to all that activity going on up there, is she?”  Spike who’d been tending to the young witch, had to laugh at that one.

“No, it was pretty bloody dormant while I was in Sunnyhell.  Red here did most of the thinking for the stupid bint…Ouch!  Hey!  I’m just saying!”  He defended as Willow popped him on the head again.

“Wills?”  Those doe eyes and quivering chin were focused on the hacker.  “You and Angel.  The baby?  It’s his?”  Willow only nodded, not trusting her voice.  If she spoke she would wail.

Buffy nodded.  “I want to go now.  Please let me out of this…whatever it is.”   Emotions rippled through her – Anger, hatred, confusion, betrayal, jealously.  Jealousy was the most prevalent.  Jealous that Spike could love Willow without a soul, and she was pretty certain that he was also without a chip, while Angelus could barely stand her with his soul.  Jealous that Willow was free to love him back, that she wasn’t held up to certain expectations as the slayer.  Jealous that Willow would have a child with Angel, something she could never do.  And jealous that his soul was permanent and he chose his brat prince childe over her.  They encompassed her and she welcomed them, let them fuel her anger.

Mina removed the barriers, watching her carefully.  Buffy picked up her purse from the floor by the stairs, where it fell when she attacked Spike.  <Spike…hmmp…Should have kicked…>  She paused in front of Willow.

“So I guess what belongs to the childe, really does belong to the sire, huh Wills?”

“Buffy…”  The blonde put a hand up.

“Save it.  You should have told me.   All these secrets.  And lies!  You should have told ME!  Me Wills!”  Her anger blinded her from reason for a few seconds, and she snatched the redhead up from the vampire's lap, knocking him soundly in the temple. Mina and Angel saw her rage for what it was and moved to intervene, but not before Buffy threw Willow with all the anger, pain and jealously she felt.  The girl hit the wall about 6 feet away and slumped to the floor, not moving.

Angel reached Buffy first, his demon raging as he rained blow after blow to her body.  Stunned for a second, she fought back, pulling out a stake and flinging it at Mina, who dodged it, easily.  Angel got the upper hand on the slayer and sunk his fangs into her neck, in the old mark.  And where she once fed him to save his life he now fed from her to save hers.  He drank as she clutch at him blindly, pushing feebly to break his hold, moaning.

“No, no…”

Spike was up, bent over Willow. Finding her pulse weak and her breathing erratic he roared.  “Cordelia!”

She had remained upstairs listening, but was already on her way after she heard Buffy screaming and the loud, sickening thud.  She fell next to him, pulling at her friend.  “Is she dead?”  She cried.

“No…Not yet.  Call an ambulance.  I can’t leave her. If she gets too close, I’m going to turn her.  Go!”

The seer jumped up, wondering why she didn’t get a vision of this, found the phone and dialed.

Mina watched, gleefully, as her brother drained the slayer.  When he stopped short of killing her, she tilted her head, questioningly.  He laid her on the floor.

“I can’t,” he answered her silent inquest.  “She meant something at one time.  This was just…too much for her.  Go with Spike to the hospital.  Keep him from killing everyone there.  I’ll take care this.”

“Throw her out, Angelus.  Make sure she doesn’t bother us again.  If that girl dies, so does your baby.  You gonna let that bitch get away with it?"

He ran his hands through his spikey brown hair.  “I don’t know, Mina!”  He growled, eyes gold.  “Go.  Make Spike feed from you.  He is too close to losing it right now."

Mina walked over and touched the blond locks.  He nuzzled against her leg and she sank to the floor beside him.  “Drink.”  He pushed way from the proffered neck.  “Drink.  You will be stuck in that hospital for who knows how long.  I’ll feed for us both.  Now drink.”

He did as told, but it was mechanical, lacking feeling or enjoyment, just nourishment, pulling away at the approaching sirens.

~Part: 34~

He paced, as a father-to-be would pace, doing his part to wear the carpet thin.  Mina was back from an obscenely treacherous hunt.  The bodies, when found, would take some serious forensics to identify.  She watched him, ready to control him if needed, as they waited for word on Willow’s condition.  Spike had mentioned her being pregnant to the attending physician, so they did a blood test and it came back positive.  She was about 6 weeks according to the hormone levels in her blood.

Of course this told the vampires that at least the redhead's child would be part demon.  It was developing at nearly three times the human rate.   Together, they decided not to divulge that fact until Willow was out of the danger and feeling better.

“William, don’t you wanna come sit by me?”  Mina asked.  His repetitive route was irritating her, making her edgy, and two wired up vampires did not a happy waiting room make.

“No.  Why can’t I smoke?”  He whined.

“It’s the law,” she answered dryly, having been here with him earlier and glance enviously at Cordelia, who lay sleeping on a short couch, her long tan legs hanging over one end.

“Stupid sodding humans and their stupid health kicks.  Should turn the whole lot of ‘em. Then they’d be cancer free.”  Thankfully, he ceased the pacing in favor of glaring at her as if she threw his mate against the wall.

“What would we eat then?”  She was running on auto-pilot.

“Don’t be rational Mina!  I want to be obnoxious and obtuse right now, okay?”  He went back to his pattern, duster billowing out at every turn.

“What time did the doctor kick you out?”

“About 30 minutes before you got back so, it’s been nearly an hour.   She has to be in surgery by now.”

“I’m going in.”  She got up.

“They’ll put you out too.”

“Spell… Making with the invisno.  You should come too.  If she…Look, I don’t want to have to turn her for you.  You should be there just in case.”  She pulled him to an empty room and closed the door, her lips already forming the beginnings of her spell.

~~~*~~~

Angel, sat on the steps, turmoil poisoning him.  This girl hanging unconscious in the chains may have killed his child and his childe’s mate.  The demon wanted him to play with the slayer, inflict as much damage as her superhuman body could endure and then just when she was about to break, back off and let her heal so that he could do it all over again.  But he didn’t have that kind of time.  Giles would be asking about her in a few hours, and he was pretty sure his soul would kick in at some point, effectively putting an end to the festivities.  Then he’d open a big can of Brood.

And if Spike returned with a less than pregnant Willow or a less than alive Willow, the blond demon would kill his ex on sight.  Angel would not be capable of stopping him in his rage,  and no doubt Mina would help him.  He needed to get the girl out of Los Angels before something disastrous happened.

Before he could change his mind, he picked up the phone and dialed.

“Hello Rupert.  This is Angel…”

~~~*~~~

The nurse closed the door softly behind her, leaving the patient’s husband and aunt standing by the bed.  She nearly cried, seeing the look of despair on the blond’s face, while the doctor advised him of the prognosis, such features not made for this type of anguish.

“Fix her, Mina.”

“William, the swelling is too great.  I tried already.  So many times.  I’ve been trying spell after spell all night.”  The blood filled her eyes and spilled over, streaking her pretty face.  His pain was thick and choked her in the tiny room, but she would not leave him alone in this.

“I’ll miss her soul…”  He started and trailed off.

“Don’t…Don’t even think about it.  She’ll be there.  And the demon will make her glorious.”

“The baby will die.  If we keep her on the machines…”

“Do you really want to do that?  How will that effect her later, William?"  She touched his shoulder, which was stiff with tension, pushing him into the single chair that occupied the room.

“No…no.  You’re right.”  He picked up the phone, handing it his aunt.  “Call him.  Tell him.  Then  I’ll…”

She dialed the numbers as he called them off to her.   It rang twice before a tired and panicked vampire answered.

“Angelus, he's gonna do it….She won’t make it…No, a vegetable.  Cordelia’s in the waiting room, still sleeping…. I know, I don’t know how she does it either....No, he asked me to let you know since the baby…Uh huh…hold on…”  She removed the phone from her ear and gave it to Spike, who took it questioningly.

“He wants to talk to you.”  He nodded and swallowed, preparing to fight with him if need be.

“Yeah Angel…Soon as I hang up…No, I haven’t….Okay…okay…I’ll tell her.  I will…I know…I’m sorry too.”  He hung up, forcing the tears and a gut-twisting sob back.  Angel could cry for them all.

“I’m killing Bitchy.  No matter what Angelus says,” he proclaimed through a clenching jaw, standing to go to his witch.

“I got your back.  But let’s worry about that later.”  She sat in his place.  This was the blond vampire’s show now.

“I hope you fed a lot, ‘cause I’ll need you after.  Angelus told me to be sure to give her a lot of blood, from the neck.  He wants her as strong as I was.”  He couldn’t help a smirk, thinking about the brief, yet telling, conversation with his sire.  Angel would not risk losing the chance to turn the redhead in order to save the baby.

“I’m good.  Take what you need.”  She held his hand and his eyes with her own and he, smiled for the first time since Willow was hurt, finding comfort in her demon.  “Go on then.  Let’s make you a childe.”

~~~*~~~

Giles, Riley and Xander raced against time, speeding in Anya’s car to get to Los Angeles as soon as humanly possible.

Angel’s call was extremely informative in a short amount of time, setting them in motion immediately.   It was apparent that the dark vampire could be extremely talkative and informative when he wished.  The cryptic act was just a tool to get out of discussing topics that he would rather avoid.

The watcher could hardly believe that Buffy would do such a thing.  Attack Willow.   She claimed to be in love with Riley, so what Angel or Willow did was none of her concern.

Angel also made it clear that Spike and Mina would return, and Buffy’s death would be Spike's top priority.

Giles then questioned him directly about the chip, which brought about the admission that it was gone, so Spike could and would follow through on his promise to kill his slayer.

Willow was all that stood between Buffy and her death at the hands of the vampire.  And now that barrier was gone.

Angel called for Giles to come collect the girl.  It was because the Hellmouth needed a good slayer that he gave her this chance to get away, nothing more.  That, and not wanting the council, or anyone else, coming after his family.

So Giles pushed the car to go faster than it probably should, wincing as the frame shook.

~~~*~~~

<She’s so pale.>

Her death had been beautiful.  She drank, finally, dainty sips at first, then greedily, until Spike collapsed and Mina had to pull her from him.  He immediately latched onto his aunt, feeding enough to walk out on his own and carry his new childe cradled in his arms, her face now buried in his chest as she slept.  She would rise within two days and he would be there.

“Go wake the seer.”  He started out the door, only to halt as Mina grabbed his arm.

“You can’t just walk out of here with her,” she whispered.

“Like anyone here could stop me.”  He glared at her and then softened when she glared back.  “Oh fine.  What, then?  Make us disappear, alright?  And then go get the seer.”  He growled deeply, not wanting to delay any longer in getting his childe home and comfortably in bed while she slept.

“Yes, William.”  Her eyes flashed red and her smile was feral.  “And when we get home, and Willow wakes up, we feed her the slayer for her first meal.”

~Part: 35~

Giles and Xander burst through the lobby doors, armed with crossbows and holy water guns.  Startled, Angel swung around, game-faced and ready to attack.  The sight of Buffy’s watcher and friend was a relief, even as what he was about to do twisted his demon into a rage.

“Rupert.  She’s downstairs,” he said, tossing the man a set of keys and returning to human visage.  “Harris.”  He greeted as Giles headed down the stairs to release his slayer.

“Deadboy.” Somehow Xander’s brain was trying to make everything Angel’s fault.  In his opinion, it always was.

“Spike and Mina are on their way back.  You all need to be long gone before they get here.”

“What happened?”  Xander was beyond the quip, worried about both of his best friends.

“When Giles comes up I’ll explain once, and then you leave.”  The human brunette took a step back, not accustomed to the evil presence radiating from the souled vampire.  Whatever happened, Angel was close to losing his legendary control.  Both set of brown eyes turned at the sound of the watcher helping Buffy up the stairs.

“Angel, what did you do to her?”  Giles bellowed, Ripper threatening to come through while he checked the semi-conscious girl over.

“In a fit of rage your slayer attacked Willow, my childe’s mate.  I stopped her from doing more damage.  Spike, Mina and Cordy went to the hospital with Willow.  The doctors, the surgeon, Mina’s magic…  nothing worked...”

“Angel…” Xander choked out.

“Nothing could save her.  She hit her head too hard.  Too many internal injuries.”  Giles sat hard on the sofa where the blonde lay still, out of it again.  He pinched his nose, willing this day to go away.

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no… don’t you say it!” Xander chanted, shaking his head, denying and then daring the truth to be told.

“She wasn’t going to make it.  Spike…I made the decision to let Spike turn her.”

“You WHAT?”  Giles stood trembling with rage.

“SHUT. UP. Watcher!”  He growled, slipping the demon to the fore again.  “She belonged to him and he belongs to me.  He called me before it was done, and I gave him the okay.  She is Spike’s childe now.  Would you rather she be gone forever?”  He wondered if he should stall them until his boy returned, and let the blonde deal with them all appropriately.  Of course, his soul vetoed the idea. <Never get to have any fun…>

“She’s a demon, Angel.  And Spike is not the bloody poster childe for restraint, now is he?  And I somehow doubt Willow will curse herself…”

“I won’t allow anyone to give her a soul, Rupert.  She will be strong and in control soon. I’ll see to it.  You just keep the slayer out of my town.”   The phone rang, jarring them from the conversation as the vampire answered.

“Yes…Fine…That’s probably a good idea.  I want everyone to stay here for a while.  No…that’s to be expected.  It’ll be a while, you gave her a lot of blood….She’s fine, Spike, I promise.   Yes, now bye.”  He hung up, resting his hand on the phone as he thought.  A HUGE part of him wanted to throw them all in that cage, a part that was starting to win out over the soul.

“Take her and go,” his growl deep and resonant in his chest.

“What?  How is Willow?  I want to see her!”  Xander cried.

Angel whirled on them, his ridged features on display. “Are you stupid?  They are going to kill Buffy if she’s here, and Angelus is in total agreement.  I am trying to give her a chance.  They were leaving Cordelia’s, which is only a 15 minute ride from here, so you do the math.  Willow won’t rise until tomorrow night and she may not be amiable to seeing any of you yet.  But you need to go now.  And if anyone gives her a soul I, Angel, will come to Sunnydale and kill everyone of you!”

The pair stood gaping at the vampire is shock.  <Did he actually threaten to kill us?>

“GO!”  He roared.  That put them in motion as they lifted the blonde easily, and treaded through the lobby doors into the night.

~~~*~~~

“Where’s that bitch?”  Spike roared as he walked in cradling his sleeping childe. “Angelus!  Why don’t I feel that BITCH?!”  He turned in circles, not knowing what to do first.  Put down his mate, attack his nancyboy of a sire and rip his arms off, or go find the slayer.

Mina and Cordelia came in behind him, one cowering by the door, the other looking on with blazing red eyes, but demon in check.

“Spike, Giles came and got her.”

“And you LET him?  Now what’s my girl gonna eat when she wakes up?  Do I smell the moron?  Was he here too?”  The younger vampire grimaced.

“Take her to your room, or better yet, my room.  You and I need to talk tonight.”

“I am going to kill her, Angelus.  Just know that, and don’t try to stop me, Sire.”

“Just take her to my room and wait for me.”

The blond vampire raced up the stairs, stomping on every one, muttering something about hair gel affecting the brain cells.

Angel turned his attention to his sister and seer.  “Mina will you take care of Cordelia.  She needs to eat as well.”

“Sure, Angel, but Spike is going to kick your ass, you know?”

“Well, he can try.”  The vampire smirked as he went to face the music.

~~~*~~~

Spike removed his duster, tossing it carelessly onto a chair, and climbed onto the bed next to Willow.  Making sure she seemed comfortable, he spooned up behind her, his demon immediately calmed by her nearness.  He was furious with Angel for letting that idiot and watcher rescue the slayer.  He wanted to give chase, go to their homes, and kill them all while he still might have an invite. He would have Buffy’s blood, but he could not leave until Willow was awake and strong.  He wanted to be the first thing she saw, smelled, felt and tasted.

Sensing the approaching vampire, a low growl rumbled constantly in his chest.

“Look at me, childe.”  Angel ordered, standing in the doorway, dwarfing it.  Spike ignored him, clutching the redhead tighter, his growling becoming a keen as the dark vampire came closer.

“I’m not going to take her from you, but we need to talk.”  Angel spoke softly, a slight Irish accent coming through.

“Nothing to say.  You chose her again.”  Spike’s voice was thick with emotion.  He didn’t say more, fearing he would break down in front of his sire.

“I chose you, keeping you and Willow safe until she’s strong.  You can’t fight Buffy and protect her.  I don’t love her, but couldn’t let you kill her either.”

“Why the hell not, Angel??  She killed your BABY.” Spike released his tight grip on his new childe and rolled over to glare at his own sire.  The dark vampire looked tired, torn, his eyes pleading for understanding from the only one he needed to understand.  Something inside the blonde’s steely reserve broke seeing him almost defeated.  He wondered briefly if he was the cause.

“It was hard to let them go, believe me.  All I kept thinking was I should  keep them here until you arrived.  But the Hellmouth must have a slayer.  Faith’s the true slayer, the line goes through her, not Buffy, but she’s in jail, and not getting out soon.  So if Buffy dies, no one is called, and nd the Hellmouth goes unprotected.”

“Is that so bad??”  He leaned up and pointed to his duster, and Angel walked completely into the room, picking up the heavy leather coat and tossed it to his boy.   The blonde dug in a pocket, and finding a cigarette, he lit it despite the scowl from the brunette

“Well yeah.  Look at how many stupid demons, vampires included, run around trying to open the mouth of Hell and kill off humanity, which we need to survive, and to procreate, present company included.”

“Hey!  YOU opened Acathla, not me,”  the childe defended.

“True.  But YOU, my boy, put together one big, blue, humanity-burning smurf called the Judge.  All as a present for your crazy princess who probably doesn’t even remember the thing anymore,” Angel retorted, grinning smugly as the blond’s mouth moved, but nothing came out.  He missed this, verbal sparring with his boy.  He was smarter than anyone gave him credit for, and he used their presumption of his stupidity to his advantage, even duping Angelus into letting down his guard even as the older vampire knew better.  Luckily he was there and all healed when Angelus went a little off the deep end and tried to end the world.  Luckily he was smart enough to make an unlikely alliance with the woman he now intends to kill.

His thoughts sobered and he glanced at his boy.

“Getting a good brood on, were you?”  He blew out smoke rings.  “How much longer will she sleep?  I’m aching to look into the eyes of her demon. And you do know, of course, that I'll be kicking your prancin’, poufy arse for letting the bitch go.”

Ignoring his childe's latest, not-so-veiled, threat he answered the real question.  "Till tomorrow after dusk.  Anytime after that she opens those eyes and you’d better be here.”  Angel wanted his boy to stay close to home.  He could not be certain that Buffy wouldn’t be back once she regrouped.  She would either be planning to stake her best friend, or abduct her and give her the soul.  “And I want you to wear the ring if you must leave, and don’t go far or stay long…”

“Bloody Hell, Angelus.  I didn’t just rise, you know.  Can take care of m’self.”  He nearly pouted.

“I know, but she’s out there somewhere, and until I know what she intends, I don’t trust anyone or anything with you, Willow, Mina or Cordy.”

Spike rolled back over, not acknowledging Angel’s desire to protect him.  He was a master, didn’t need protecting.  He was what others needed protecting from.  A smile, unbidden and undeniable smile crept into his handsome features and he pulled the girl that would be his for eternity back into his cool embrace.

 “Lay with us, Sire?  Wait with me?”  He couldn’t say why he offered, it just seemed right, and he was rewarded as the strong and comforting arms of Angelus surrounded the redhead and the blonde, as the latter finally succumbed to a much needed sleep.

~Part: 36~

Cordelia soaked in the bath that Mina ran for her.  She inhaled the scent of the oils that the witch added to assist in relieving some of her aches.  Her body was sore in all the right places and she felt terribly guilty about it.
Willow was gone.

Dead and turned.  Part of her rejoiced that Spike would be too busy with his new childe to consider turning her now, while the other part was envious that Spike might be too busy with his new childe for anything else.  Not that she wanted him.  She was just concerned for this baby inside her.  What if he was disinterested in it now, and she was stuck raising it on her own?

Even as she though it, she chastised herself, fully aware that Angel would never allow that to happen even if the blonde was so inclined, and she seriously doubted that the younger vampire would become that unfocused.  Willow may distract him for the first few days, when the new vampire would need him the most, but soon after that, he would be back to tormenting her in the most delicious ways.  <No, No No!>   Her mind fought against the imagery Spike’s brand of torment incited while her body became flush, and she felt overheated in the cooling water.

She stood, desperate to discard the thoughts, and the sensations they caused, and reached for a towel.

“AAHHHH!” She screamed.

Mina, holding out a towel to the brunette, successfully refrained from laughing, or even smiling.  Somehow today was more somber than cheap thrills.  A new childe was made, one who would be glorious, and bring incomparable power to the family.  So she managed to conjure an appropriately sheepish smile.

“Sorry, sweetie.  Didn’t mean to scare you.”

Cordy took the towel and wrapped it around her wet frame, stepping out carefully.  With the luck they were having, she could see herself falling in the tub and losing the baby.  Yesterday that would have been a welcome option, but now life, this life, seemed disturbingly precious to her, twisting her take on morality and mortality.

“Normally I don’t believe vampires when they say that,” she commented, while applying the body lotion that she brought from her place.  “But today I make exceptions for a lot of things.”

“It’s been an exceptional day.”  She wrung her hands while sitting on the counter and leaning back on the mirror, her missing image instilling a dizzying sensation in the seer.  “I’m dying  to see her.  Don’t say it!  Anyway…She’ll be a real kick, that’s for sure.”

“Why do you say that?  Will she be after me?  You know, cuz Spike and I…”  She asked, panic at the edges of her voice.

“I doubt that…She’s just gonna be a handful, not unlike William.”  Mina anticipated many hours of fun to be had in the next few days, as the redhead embraced her new existence.

“That is so not reassuring,” the brunette quipped.

“Oh, I don’t know….William…when he rose…my gods, his demon floored me.  He was in control from the beginning, and all about pleasing at first until he realized his effect on others.  Then he was all about being pleased.  Not that he doesn’t give a lot, as we both know, but your pleasure feeds his incredibly humongous ego which pleases him.  So he gets off on you getting off, ya know?”

“I guess.  Look I can do without this talk right now.  I just need to sleep for a while.  We have to tell Wes in the morning, and I’ll need a crap-load of patience for all the hemming and hawing his proper British butt will be doing.”

“Alright…I’ll leave you too it.”  The vampire began her retreat, stopping to fix the seer with a tilted gazed.  “He’ll come to you.  Give him some time to do what he has to right now, but he WILL come to you.”

Mina left and Cordy let out the breath she hadn’t known she was holding.

~~~*~~~

Giles paced in front of his agonizing slayer.  She was wrecked, guilt and anguish devouring her soul.  Willow was dead.  Killed by her own hand…and now a vampire.  Spike’s childe.  She could not think of a time when things were more absolutely screwed up.  The blond demon had always been a formidable opponent, and that was when he was just going after her for kicks, so to speak.  What was going to happen now that he had motivation, inspiration?

“Did you hear me, Buffy?  We can’t stay here.  You can’t stay at home.  None of us are safe.”  Giles tried to penetrate her walls, but she just continued to sit there, catatonic.  “BUFFY!”

“Hmm…” She peered up at him as if he’d just walked into the room.

“We can’t stay here,” his hissed, rapid growing angry at her diminished mental process.   She needed to pick another time to have a breakdown.

“We can just uninvited him, and Willow and Mina don’t have invites.  So as long as we stay in were safe, right?”

“Assuming that you’re right, and I can perform the spell...What do we do if the vampires just take a match to the place?”

~~~*~~~

“No Xander, we are leaving this town before the sun sets.  They are coming.”   Anya refused to be killed by vampires seeking vengeance.  It was simply too ironic.

“I can’t just leave Buffy alone.”

“She killed Willow.  Accident or whatever, she killed Spike’s mate.”

“But he turned her, so isn’t he a happy vampire now?” He asked, grasping at the metaphorical straws.

“Yes and NO, Xander!  How can you be so stupid?  How many times have you heard him tell Willow that he was going to turn her after she begged him for it.  So he got what he wanted, but not how or when.  And the fact that slayer attacked his mate????  Well he isn’t going to forgive it.  She is on a live and active death list, and no doubt you aren’t too far behind.  And maybe he doesn’t kill you or me.  But what’s stopping the Wicked Witch of the West?  She may seem like an everyday fun loving girl, but she is drenched with power and evil.  She is by far the worst of the bunch and I am not interesting in ever seeing her again…”

She stopped her frantic packing and glared at her boyfriend.  “So who is it going to be, Xander?  A coward’s life with me, and I’ll love every cowardice bone in your limp body.   Or a hero’s death, which I can promise will be painful, but I can’t promise that you’ll stay dead?”

~Part: 37~

Spike woke feeling like a slice of pastrami, sandwiched in between his sire’s powerful frame and the stillness of Willow.  Deciding things could have been worse, he untangled his limbs from theirs, and went to grab a smoke.   He could feel her demon, taking hold, and knew it would a while before she woke up.   He walked the second floor hall, smoking and sighing contently, not unlike a waiting room father-to-be.  During most of his two hundred years of roaming this earth, the idea of raising childer horrified him.  He could not fathom the responsibility, and knowing what he’d put Angelus threw, and vice-versa,  well he wouldn’t wish it on his worse enemy.  <Well, yeah I would have then…>    He chuckled to himself.  But that all changed when he returned to Sunnydale.  After that little visit to the Initiative, and - unknown to him at the time –  one neutered vamp to go with a side of pain, he was wholly focused on killing the slayer and anything she cared about.  Except Joyce!  But the girl wasn’t home, and a delightfully tormented Willow was.  Her pain and her innocence and her power called to his demon and for the first time he considered making a childe.  And she would have been his that night if not for the chip.

He stopped, listening carefully for any movement in his sire’s room.  Convinced that all was quiet he headed to the only heartbeat in the hotel.

The door squeaked a little when he opened it, ruining his hopes of a stealthy entrance.  Mina opened sleepy green eyes, which flashed alternately with that eerie glowing red that was uniquely her, reminding him of Christmas lights.  She lean back, unwrapping herself from Cordelia, and waited for him to speak.

“How is she?”  He asked as he sat in the bed next to his aunt.

“I think she’s worried about what you plan to do with her and the baby, now.  She’s always known that Willow is your love, so she just wonders where that leaves her.  But she’s alright.  Found her in here crying in her sleep.  She calmed down after I laid next to her.   Maybe you want to…”

“Nah… not now.  Might get distracted and need to be there when my childe wakes up.  That’s such a strange thought.  My childe.  I know I told them both I was turning them, but to actually have a childe...”  He smiled at Mina, bright blue eyes penetrating her being.  “Never thought it would happen, did you, luv?”

“Nope.  You and me?  We are alike, roaming, and taking, and generally making as much mischief as we please.  There ain’t much room for responsibility when you’re being childish and reckless…. You know, William…”  She caressed his forehead, easing away the concerned creases that had formed.  “I’ve done so much since leaving you all.  I learned a lot and went to school whenever I took a fancy, but other things…the destruction I left in my wake over time is nearly beyond my own comprehension, and I would never have taken the chances that I did with my own existence if I had childer.  It was a lot of fun, ‘though. Same fun I heard about you having.”  She laughed as she punched his arm.

“You have to tell me stories sometime, Auntie.”  For a moment, he was the fledge that sat at her feet long ago, as she regaled him with her adventures for the day.  She would love him forever.  <Big Bad indeed!>

“We can have a story day soon.  Give that energetic childe of yours something when the mean old sun is out.”

He stood to leave.  “Sounds like a plan…Thanks…. For taking care of her.”  He nodded at the seer, still sleeping soundly, manicured fingers clutching the sheets.

“Not a problem.  But you need to talk to her.  I mean really talk, not seduce or punish.  Talk.”

Spike frowned, not wanting to delve into anything to deeply with the brunette.  A serious discussion was bound to lead to serious feelings, and he wasn’t sure what he felt for her.  She was carrying his child, human, or perhaps part demon, and he wanted to possess her.  He didn’t know if there was anymore to it.

“After Willow is up.”  He turned,  grabbing the doorknob, and commanded over his shoulder, “Tell her I was here.”

Mina, slightly indignant and amused by his audacity, saluted the blond vampire behind his back.  “ Aye-Aye, Sir.”

Spike closed the door softly, minute traces of a smirk gracing his features.

~~~*~~~

“What do you mean dead?”

“I… I can’t…” She dropped the phone and ran into the bathroom of the motel room she, Riley and Giles were occupying.  Riley followed her in the tiny room, pulling her into a comforting embrace as her body convulsed with sobs.

Hesitating, Giles could hear the shouts on the other end, too uncharacteristic and wholly appropriate.  He picked up the phone and began speaking over the young werewolf, unconsciously musing over what new trouble this may bring them on top of the vampires.

“Oz…Please… yes, I understand…. It’s true…No Spike turned her.  She was injured.  It was an accident…No…NO! Now stop it.   It is a very bad idea for you to go over there…Spike, somehow thanks to that Mina, is chip-free.  He won’t tolerate you around her…”  The watcher snatched his glasses off quickly, and began yelling.  “Do you have any idea what Willow means to him now!?  You can’t go there…The accident was Buffy’s fault, Oz, not Spike’s.  He turned her to save her…. Please just come to our room, and we can explain more.  I’m afraid I have a terrible headache and need to find some aspirin.”

Giles gave Oz directions and hung up quickly.  He was not in the mood for in-depth analysis of the events, as nothing would change the current outcome, but he wanted to be sure the boy did not sign his own death warrant by dropping in on the vampires.  He knew just how lucky he and Xander were, getting out of there alive, and with a fairly healthy slayer.    Angel was struggling with his demon and the smallest thing could have tipped the scales against them.

Anya and Xander were headed to Las Vegas where the ex-demon had friends that agreed to put them up for a while.    The boy wanted to stay, help his friend, but left reluctantly at the tiny blonde’s insistence.   Actually it was Buffy’s threat to never speak to him again if he got hurt or killed trying to clean up her mess, that sent him on his way.  However he did make her promise to refrain from patrol until it was safe.

Safe.  Giles mulled over that concept.  Would they ever be safe again.  Willow knew them all intimately, and could use that to out guess their every move.  It didn’t help that Spike, while failing at most of his more diabolical plans since arriving in Sunnydale, was an excellent strategist.   His impatience was his undoing, but that would all change with the young redhead by his side.   She would temper him, and he would embolden her, together creating quite the formidable opponent.  No "safety" was a concept that up until now he had taken for granted, one he didn’t think he would be experiencing for long period anytime soon.

And so, after digging through his duffle bag, he found the aspirin and scotch, poured two fingers into a plastic cup and awaited the musician’s arrival.

~~~*~~~

“Alright, Angelus, the bloody sun is up, but my Willow isn’t.  When will she be?”  A hyper, and caged Spike ranted, well whined was more accurate.  He was hoping to claim her, and shag her all day, so that they could go out and hunt together, begin his take over of this city.

“Spike, you know as well as I do that she won’t rise while the sun is up, so go in the tunnels and burn some energy.”  Angel was not in the mood to deal with the blond’s impatience.  “Then find me.”  The dark vampire slipped from the room, down the stairs, and into the kitchen where Cordelia was making breakfast for she and Wesley.

“Hi Angel.”  She was extra chipper, which was Angel’s clue that she had not told the former watcher anything about what transpired the night before.

“Angel, how are you this morning?”  Wesley greeted while sipping tea.

“Well.  Thanks, uh look after you’re done, I need you in my office.”

“Oh?”  The lanky human perked up.  “Some new demon to research?  A big evil afoot?”

“Not exactly.”  Angel almost smiled at his enthusiasm.  “I’ll be waiting,”  he stated as he left them to their meal.  <Hmm…Wes is a lot braver than anyone gives him credit for, eating her cooking!>

Wesley watched as his boss disappeared from view and then focused his attention on Cordelia.  “Did you make enough?”  When she stared back wide-eyed, he motioned upstairs.  “Willow….she comes down whenever she smells food, you know.  You’ll need more eggs.”

“Oh, right.”  She laughed nervously, wanting nothing more than to leave this hotel and go to her nice warm apartment ,and lay in her nice comfy bed.   “Hey why don’t you go see what his broodiness wants, while I go get more eggs?  He’s all out.”  They exited the kitchen together and split up, one going out the front doors, the other into the batcave.

“Angel, sorry to disturb you.”  He peeked in, his voice as soft and unassuming as his demeanor. “We need more eggs, so Cordelia’s gone to fetch them.  We can talk now, if you like.”

“Sure, come in.”  Wesley sat in the chair normally reserved for paying clients, feeling strange on this side of the desk.  He was normally standing behind Angel, or sitting at his desk, on his behalf if the vampire was still sleeping or injured.  “There were a few changes that took place while you were out.  Because of them, I’d like you to stay close to the Hyperion.  With us. Until things get settled.”  He was being cryptic, he knew, but this was so hard for him to explain.

“Angel, I afraid I don’t understand.”  He leaned forward in his seat, as if proximity would lend clarity.

The vampire, resolved to get this over with, inhaled deeply.  “Last night, Well, yesterday, Buffy came to see Willow.  They went out. To lunch, a few movies.  Apparently everything was fine when they got back, until Oz showed up and revealed a secret that Willow was hiding.”

“Oh no…About you two and the ritual?”

“Yes, and there were complications to the ritual that you don’t know about yet, do you?”  Suddenly the vampire realized that Wesley didn’t know the girls were pregnant on top of everything else.  “Look, Wes.  I’m going to tell you everything, but don’t interrupt.”  He waited until his friend nodded.

“Okay. The ritual, you know something went…went wacky.  Had me after Will,  and Spike after Cordy.  Well Mina figured it out, but not until discovering that both girls are pregnant…by us.   Buffy found out and flipped.  She threw Willow against the wall, before I could get to her, and she was rushed to the emergency room.  They operated, but the she wasn’t going to make it.  She was too far gone for Mina’s magic to help.  Spike turned her at the hospital.  She’s upstairs still asleep.  Spike is out for Buffy’s blood, and even though I’ve tried to explain why Buffy can’t die, I don’t know what to expect from that childe of mine, and I don’t know if Giles would try to curse Willow.”  He’d been pacing, and now spun around to face the other brunette.   “I need to know if you’re with us.  I…I need you to be.”

Wesley’s heart jumped at the vampire’s admission.  He was in awe of Angel most times, and felt such compassion for him at all times.  To know that the vampire needed him in his life, as a friend , by his side…he was elated.  He finally may have found a place where he belonged.  He had so many questions but they would be answered in time.  What mattered now was to assure the vampire of his allegiance

“I’m with you, Angel. Always.  What do you need me to do?”

~Part: 38~

“They’re going to try to give Willow her soul.  I know it,” Angel explained to Wesley.

“Is that a bad thing?”  The ex-watcher asked, without animosity or judgment, which aided Angel in suppressing a growl.

“It’s bad.  I have my soul, and thanks to Mina, it’s not going anywhere.  There’s also less guilt.  But the conflict, hating what I am for the last hundred years, oh and don’t forget my vacation to Hell, well it kinda wears on ya.  I’m finally free from that, and free to love who I want.  She would never know that freedom, and Mina won’t be able to do what she did for me, since I don’t expect Giles will be up for a romp.”  Wesley nodded and blushed at the image.

“Right then.  So how will you control her?  She is a demon now, and bound to have her own agenda, Angel.  I can’t imagine her agreeing to bag it.”  He motioned to the coffee mug on Angel’s desk, half filled with cooling blood.

“I don’t expect her to.  Spike will control her, and I will control Spike.”  When Wesley rolled his eyes, Angel spoke hurriedly, defending his statement.  “I know it seems like he gets away with murder, and he literally does, but I can control him when I have to, okay?”

“Fine Angel.  I trust you.  Now what can I do to help?”

“First, I need to not be worried about this soul.  Find every Orb of Thesula and purchase them all.”

“Excuse me.”  Did he hear right?

“They can’t perform the ritual without them.  How many can there be?”

“There were 100 orbs created originally.  I’d say no more the 30 are left.”

“Well, use your contacts and buy them all.   Oh…and ask around…see if anyone has been calling to get one shipped to Sunnydale.”

“Angel…I…This will be very…costly.  How can you afford it?”

“I have the money.  It was Angelus’, and the soul never wanted to touch it before, but now that all that guilt’s flown the coop, I’m not so concerned about HOW I came to have the money, only THAT I have the money…Which reminds me… I have to tell Spike that I have his bankbooks and bonds in a chest on the third floor.”

“What?”

“He left them when he beat me with the crowbar and took Dru to Brazil.  I moved them here, and planned to give them to him, but the next time I saw him he started hitting me with things again, and got to torturing me for that stupid ring.   So I never mentioned it.  Not like he couldn’t get any more.  Well before the chip he could.  Anyway, can you do it?”

“Get the orbs?  Yes.  I have a list of most of the shops that have them.  There are some private owners as well, but I should be able to find them all.”  The watcher was wary of all the orbs being in one place, but would address that later.

“Good….good.”  He got up from his desk and paced, bringing a blond vampire to the watcher’s mind.  “And I need you to find Giles and Buffy.  They aren’t in Sunnydale according to my contacts, and I need to know what she’s planning.”

“They’ve gone?  Angel, the Hellmouth…who is protecting it?”

“I know, Wes.  They have to be worried about Spike and Willow.  Can’t say I blame them…” Angel stopped mid-pace, his mind wandering over visions of Spike killing his third slayer, the carnage.  He shook his head, resuming his pattern, and suppressing a slight smile.

“Angel?”  Wesley had been observing the vampire, noting the golden swirl enter his eyes, and leave just as quickly.   “Angel…”

“Sorry… I…I just need to be sure my family’s safe.  All of you.”  He looked directly at the tall man sitting in his office, leaving no room for doubt as to how he felt about him.  “I need to know if they already have an orb.  Willow would know, but she won’t rise until sunset now.  They could do the ritual and we’d never know.  Hell… they may have already done it.”  He sat back in his seat, holding his head in his hand as his elbow rested on the desk.

“Angel is there a spell that Mina can do to block any magic from being performed on Willow or Spike, or herself for that matter?  That would be an easier solution…” the quiet man suggested.

The dark vampire’s eyes lit up with hope, something becoming common in his life again.  “I’ll go ask Mina.  You work on getting those orbs.”  Angel left almost faster than the ex-watcher’s eyes could follow, as he heard a muffled thanks in the vampire’s wake.  With a sigh Wesley headed to his office to go about finding and buying every orb in the world.

~~~*~~~

He found her wrapped around his seer, her hand stilled in the middle of what must have been a caress to the girl’s temple. <Hmmp, Always attracted to the pulse.>    It was mid- morning and the vampire was out cold.  He didn’t relish waking her so early, but this was important.  Taking a few seconds more to admire her beauty, he finally reached over and nudged her shoulder, whispering her name.

“Mina…”

The vampire didn’t move.  Angel moved to touch her again, but retracted his hand quickly, as if burned.  He looked at it, checking for signs of injury, however none were there.

Glancing back he discovered amused eyes peering up at him.

“It’s early.  What do you want?”  She asked, getting to the point.

“A spell.  Something to keep magic from Spike, Willow or you.  They can try to give any of you souls if they have the orbs.”

She sat up gently, crossing her long legs, Indian-style.  “Have William wear the ring.  If I do a spell on him to block magic, the ring won’t work for him.  I’ll do it on Willow now. And what about your pets?  We can put a protection spell on them as well.   I already have one on me.  It’s been there for nearly a century.”  Angel glared at her. “What???  I pissed off a lot witches in my time.  Demon’s too.  And some are still waiting to get a crack at my ass.”

“Hmm…And what about me.  Can I have a crack at your ass?”  He lean over her, pushing her back down on the bed as her legs unfolded lazily, wrapping around him easily.

“Anytime.”  She whispered as he nibbled at her neck,, breaking the skin.  His demon took over, smelling her reaction to him, only to cringe and nearly retreat at the sound he experience next.

“EWWW!”

Two sets of feral eyes raked over the forgotten girl on the bed next to them.

“You two will not be having SEX next to me!  You…” She pointed at Angel.  “Drop the face and get UP!”  Sheepishly, he obeyed.  “And you…” she turned to Mina who was laughing hysterically.  “Have you NO shame?”  Cordelia was pushing her off the bed.

“Nooo!  I…. really don’t!”  She managed, between giggles as she rolled onto the floor.

Angel just shrugged, adding,  “She doesn’t.”

He smiled at the seer, sending a shiver down her spine.  If he wasn’t a vampire, he would have missed it.  He knew it for what it was, and took no personal interest in her reaction, other than noting that she was feeling more for his childe that she was admitting.  So much that she was attracted to the sire when the desired childe wasn’t near.

“Mina, let’s leave Cordy to get some more rest.  I need you to do that spell anyway.  We can get distracted later.”

Once outside the door, Mina slammed him against the wall, sniffing him before sinking fangs into his neck and drinking deeply.  He pressed his erection against her, drowning in the sensation of being dominated, so rare to find a power worthy to allow this.   He whimpered when she pulled back, wanting nothing more than for her to drain him unconscious.

“Take me, now Angel.”  She purred in his ear.  Her hands were busy between them, pulling at the button on his pants.  When his hands stilled hers, feral red eyes darted up to his, need and want pulsating throughout the hall, nearly humming.  “Now!”  Her teeth were clenched as she ripped the fabric of his pants, tearing them from his form before doing the same to his boxers.

He followed her command, pulling off her boy-leg panties and entering her in one fluid motion, as she bit into his shoulder and sucked on the blood that poured out.  She wrapped her legs around his waist as he turned them, placing her against the wall.  She tore her mouth from him, moaning loudly, not caring who heard or came to watch and he pounded into her relentlessly, punishing her with his kisses, devouring her lips with his.

“Angelus…” She cried out as she felt the tightening in her belly.

He grabbed a handful of her tresses, tilting her head and exposing the tender flesh of her throat, as he let out his demon.  He pulled completely out of her, admiring the heat he was able to create in her, watching as she came out of her lust-induced stupor.

“What?”  She demanded crossly, highly aggravated that he wanted to play games right at that moment.

“What kind of deal did you make with Spike?”  He had been wondering why the blond was so easy to forgive Mina, and let her free of the chains the other night, never getting around to the toys at all.  He knew his childe, knew there must be something else he was gaining.  If Angel learned anything from having William the Bloody as his childe, he learned to stay on his toes when it came to the boy.  The blond was a plotter and a planner, and had insight into personality that gave him a great advantage.    Fortunately he was also impatient, and grew bored quickly, foiling his own schemes.

“What?  Deal? What are you talking about, Angelus.  No…we are not doing this right now.”  She lunged for his mouth, tempting him back into her as she tried to impale herself on his waiting shaft.  But he held firm.

“Mina, I know Spike.  He was royally pissed about Willow.  He was more than ready to play for a few hours to satisfy his demon, but something happened while I went to get the chest.  I want to know what.”  He slid the tip of his erection into her, bouncing her slightly, letting her taste no more than an inch or two before slamming into her as she screamed and pulling out again, waiting.

“Goddess Angel, it was between us.  Let him have that…”  She panted as she wiggled, trying to find some friction where the dark vampire allowed none.    When she began mumbling in Latin, Angel covered her mouth in a greedy kiss, ceasing whatever spell, and resumed his assault on her body.

He lurched her head back again and bit her. His demon eyes crossed as her muscles clamped around him, sending him to his own ecstasy….until the tap on his shoulder.

“AHHH!”  Angel yelled, his orgasm disrupted by the blond blinking innocently at his sire.  The smirk was invisible to those who didn’t know him very well.  He dropped Mina, nearly snapping his member and screamed again.

This time, the younger vampire had to chuckle.  The scene was comedic at best:  Angel, in just a silk sweater, cradling his twig and berries, talking to them, apologizing to them, and Mina sprawled on the floor, her long legs at an awkward angle in front of her, her skirt around her waist, struggling to her feet, amused as well.

“Poof, she’s starting to stir.  I thought you’d want to be there.”

“What?  It’s only…”  He glanced at his watch. “10:30.  She can’t be rising yet.”  He gathered his clothes and Mina’s hand, following his boy.

~~~*~~~

Willow was not rising.  Spike was just anxious.  While they waited, Mina performed the spell on Willow and, after much stodgy protest, Wesley.  She would get to the seer after she got up.

“Angel, what about you?  No spell to ward off the retched slayer?” His sister offered.

“Not necessary.”  He was still vexed over his childe botching up his sex, and vowed to get him back.  He owed him a lesson, and hadn’t forgotten that either.  “But can you please help Wesley?”

“Your pet watcher is going to piss his pants when he sees her, mate.  Are you looking for a laugh?”  Spike asked, as Mina gleefully headed down to find her favorite toy.

“Not exactly…”  The brunette leaned over the blond, his lips brushing Spike’s forehead.  “Actually, I think he likes her, and that scares him most of all.  But you, me boy…You’ve forgotten who ya belong to.”

Spike swallowed.  Hard.  His eyes closed, listening to the soft brogue, drinking in the coolness his proximity brought.  Angel’s lips continued their feathery dance over the blond’s flesh causing him to tremble slightly.

“The witch may be yours, but ya belong to me.”  He ran his hands through his bleached locks, gripping Spike’s head tightly.   “Luckily, I’m in a mood to be reminding ya.”  He growled softly, as his lips descended on his childe’s.

~Part: 39~

Wesley spoke softly to the shopkeeper in Amsterdam.   Travis was willing to assist the ex-watcher in collecting all of the orbs in Europe, 18 in all, including his own 3, for a small fee, over which they now haggled quietly.  So it was all the more alarming to the young man when the brunette let out a high pitched yelp upon sighting his favorite vampire.

“T-T-Travis… I’m very sorry….I-I…c-can I call you back?  Something has come up, uh, requiring my immediate attention… Right then.”   He dropped the phone on its cradle as if it were burning him, and backed away further into the office, never taking his eyes off of the vampire.

“M-Mina…”  He stuttered, hating the quiver in his voice.  He chanced a look over her shoulder, praying for the presence of another, even Spike, and seeing none, he trained his eyes back on Mina.  For a few seconds he wondered if he could get to the tranquilizer gun before she reached him, when suddenly it occurred to him that she wasn’t threatening him at all, and was seemingly occupied with making a cup of coffee.

“W-Wesley…” she mocked, gazing up at him over the steaming mug, green eyes flashing red for his benefit.   When it became clear that he was tongue-tied, Mina continued.  “I was sent down by our loving patriarch, to help you find all the orbs.”  She was smiling now, a genuine smile that lit her face up, and gave Wesley a glimpse of the human she once was.  It was gone as quickly as it appeared.

“Relax, Wes.  I promised not to bite you, so as long as you don’t try anything, we’re straight.  Comprende?”

“Yes, of course.  I have someone getting them for me in Europe, the orbs that is,  But there are several in South America.  After I call Travis back to settle on the price for his services, I’m starting on Mexico.”

“Oh…I know several of the store owners in Mexico, and can call them for you.  And this guy Mauricio, he has two at his hacienda.  He owes me a favor.  I can get them for nothing.”

“Really…”  He didn’t know why it surprised him that she would help.  Angel was family, and Willow was family now.  But she seemed so human, not pale like Angel and Spike.  She didn’t emit a coolness when near her.  She radiated heat.

“May I ask you something?”  He looked at her and away quickly.  “You’re warm.  Too warm for a vampire…”

“Magic.  Keeps my temperature up.  I’m constantly charged.  Not a big deal really, but it helps to fool the general population, so I blend.”  She grinned, knowing he caught her meaning, enjoying his discomfort, and took a sip of coffee.

“Are you sure you should be having caffeine?  Angel gets very jittery.”

“Probably not, but what the hell.  I’m sure you can keep me busy if I get too bored.”  She placed her cup down on the counter and stalked her new toy, amused as he tried to find an exit that didn’t involve going anywhere near the vampire.

“N-Now Mina, you promised… no biting,”  he stammered, screeching as he hit the back wall.

“Not gonna bite.”  She sniffed him. His fear, and the coffee, had her demon screaming, and it took a considerable amount of control to keep her promise and leave him fang free.  She eyed his neck, admiring it like an empty canvass that she intended to, one day, fill.

“Oh thank goodness.”

She laughed at that, backing away from him.  “Nothing good about me, Wes.”  She walked back, and picked up her mug, swallowing the rest of the coffee quickly.  “Call your guy back.  Pay him what he asks.  Then I’ll hook you up on a some freebies.”

“You really think someone will just give them to you? It’s not like you can, you know, bite him from here.”   he made a grr face which was pathetic and adorable all at once.

She eyed the watcher, considering his question.  He amused her, and was quite cute, if delicate.  It was a dangerous situation for him, and he seemed to be aware of it, which she found all the more endearing as he tried to stand his ground.  <How pissed will Angel be if I make him my pet?>   She cast the thought aside quickly, knowing that there were already too many complications in the Hyperion for the moment.  She would just concentrate on getting him to trust her for now.

~~~*~~~

“She had a massive head injury, Spike.  She was dying, and not from a bite.  You gave her a lot of your blood.   Her brain had to be repaired before the demon would inhabit.  She’ll wake up tonight.”

The blond crushed out a cigarette, only to light another, as he resumed his frantic pacing.  Angel was past reprimanding him.  If there was a chance the nicotine would calm his anxious childe, he was willing to suffer through the smoke for a while.

“So something could go wrong?”  He asked, nearly whining, through the haze around him.  “What if she is retarded or something?”

“Mentally challenge.”

“What?”  He stopped and turned to glare at his sire, confusion wrinkling his brow.

“The term is mentally challenge.  It's not PC to say retarded,”  he explained.

“PC?”  Spike’s _expression was incredulous.

“Politically correct?  Where have you been, Spike?”  Angel was glad to get the boys attention away from the sleeping redhead.  He thought he was going to be teaching him a lesson, but instead found himself trapped in his room with a cranky blond, who was insisting on testing the second-hand smoke death theory out on him.  He sighed and stood, grabbing Spike by the shoulders, ceasing his motion while peering into his cold blue eyes.  “You need to relax.  You will need your strength when she wakes up, which won't be for at least five more hours.”

“Why does anyone care if  I call a retard a retard?  Humans are to bleeding sensitive, the whole lot of them.  And you’ve gone and become a pansy like them.”  He shirked away from Angel’s grip, dragging on his smoke as be backed away, chuckling.  “You just make sure you don’t go trying to teach my childe any of your prissy ways.  I won’t stand…”

Spike’s head jerk back, and he flew across the room from the impact of Angel’s fist.  The chest of drawers in the corner was kind enough to stop his unscheduled flight, a sickening crack as his head hit the wood.  He rose gracefully to his feet, feeling the knot forming behind his ear with his fingers.

“What is your bloody problem, Angelus?”  He stormed to where his cigarette landed, picked it up, and took a last drag, before dropping it back on the floor and smashing it into the carpet, his eyes never leaving his sire’s.  He could sense the demon, lurching forward, and wanted it.  He yearned to see Angelus for a little while today, and wondered just how far he would have to go to bring him out, and what he would do once in charge.

“You will respect your sire, childe.”  Angel clenched his fist, trying to reign in the demon.  It would only take a little shove to push him over the edge…

“Ohh… Are we ready to play Daddy now?”  The blond chuckled, flopping on Angel’s bed, boots and smirk on.  He reclined against the numerous pillows, hands clutched behind blond curls that were no longer jelled.  “Long as you know it’s only for play, and only for as long as I allow YOU.”

With preternatural speed, Angel was upon him, straddling him as they struggled:  Spike to keep his hands, or at least one of them, free of the larger vampire’s crushing grip, and Angel to put his childe in the most compromising position possible.  They continue this way, grunting and growling until the inevitable occurred.

As always, in time, Angel managed to subdue his boy.  The bleached vampire was chained, arms over his head to the headboard.  He yanked hard against them, not exactly happy about this situation.  <When am I gonna learn to shut my own gob?>

“There now, my boy.  Isn’t this better?”

“No.  Now let me go, you…”

“Bloody wanker.  Yes, I know,” he answered for him, causing a massive eye roll from below.   “I’m going to move Willow to the settee.  If you move,  I’ll chain your legs too.”

“Don’t touch her…”

“Say one more thing, and I’ll find that ball gag.  That was always a favorite of yours, right William?”  He smirked at the demon on the bed, as Spike remained silent.  The blond had been a fast learner, and remembered his lessons well.   If he wanted to get out of this in good enough shape to be there for his own childe when she woke, he would have to play along and be a good little bottom.  He truly didn’t think Angelus would hurt him. Not like before, but playing with his sire could be exhausting and strenuous, just the same, and Angelus had a way of bending the line between pleasure and pain.

Angel laid the girl down carefully, padded to his door and locked it.  Spike swallowed.  Stroking his own growing erection the dark vampire inhaled deeply, the scent of his boy’s arousal surrounding him.

“You smell amazing, William.”  He leaned over the younger demon, tearing into his mouth in a ravenous kiss, the blond opening his mouth to him for exploration.  Their tongues dueled for dominance, Spike trying desperately to exert his will, express his desire to taste every inch of the vampire before him.  Angel pulled back, chuckling while the blond followed as far as the bindings would allow, his whimper when their flesh parted, delighting his demon.

He wanted to tell him to never stop kissing him.  He wanted to tell him how his demon screamed for his blood.  He wanted to tell him that he needed to feel him inside of him, cock and fangs alike.  But he said nothing, having not been given permission to speak.

Angel was fast becoming insane with need for this vampire that he created, especially for himself.  Spike was selected for his extravagant beauty and underlying power.  He was trained to be cruel, vicious, deadly, and cunning.  He was also taught to please Angelus in all ways, and the older vampire has never had a more accomplished lover, not even Mina.  The passion that was Spike was not something that could be learned.  It just was.   Now Angel had to make a decision.  Teach his boy a lesson, albeit a pleasurable one, or free him and enjoy all that his talented hands, mouth and body promised.

Spike watched him, not daring to speak, but growing impatient nonetheless.

“What d’ya be needin’, William?”

“I don’t understand, Sire.”  He watched the brunette, eyes narrowed, the Irish lilt, sending a chill, a good chill, down his spine and up around into his groin.

“I can free ya…or…I can take ya, teach ya.”  He watched the play of emotions over the boys face, reveling in the rare display.  “So…what do ya need?”  He kissed his temple, caressing the silky hair with lips that wanted to taste more.

“It’s been forever, Sire.  I…remind me that I am yours.”  He said relaxing into the bed for the first time since chained, ready to truly be his again.

~~~*~~~

Cordelia was up.  She doubled back into the hotel earlier when Wesley thought she was going to get eggs and dashed straight to her room, collapsing in the bed with Mina again.  The vampire had comforted her the night before, and she was grateful to her for that.  But right now she was hungry, so she headed for the kitchen, startled to see Wesley and Mina, heads together, pouring over some book.

“Hey guys.  Did the sun rise in the west today, or something else freaky and weird?  ‘Cause you two look like you’re not gonna eat him and he’s not a giant chicken, every time you come into the room.”

“Cordy!  How ya doing this…afternoon?”  Mina greeted her with a bright smile.

“Yes, Cordy.  Are you feeling well?  Last night was rather trying, I expect.”  He chose to ignore her remarks, not wanting the vampire to remember where he stood on the food chain.

“I’m fine, just hungry I guess.”  Her eyes tore away from the odd scene of Wes and Mina getting along, long enough to observe that there was only a few questionable apples, some English muffins and a little milk in the refrigerator.  “Uh… hello, pregnant woman here.”  She pointed to herself and then the refrigerator, looking at the ex-watcher expectantly.

“What?  You went shopping this morning.”

“Huh?... Oh… Oh yeah, but they were closed.  Too early.  Go get me something to eat,”  she demanded.

Mina watched amused as Wesley scowled, not moving.  The girl was overbearing and contrary.   Spike was going to have his hands full when he turned her.  And along with the witch upstairs…She just laughed, thinking he would do well to reconsider turning her, until he had Willow well under control.

The phone rang, ending the standoff between the humans.   Cordelia raised a brow, but made no move to pick it up, even though she was closest.  Wesley rolled his eyes and dashed lankily, catching it on the third ring.

“Angel Investigations.  We help…  Ah… Um…No, I don’t think that is possible.”  He placed his hand over the receiver and mouthed ‘Buffy’.  “Angel is not available right now…No…I do apologize…Now look here.  You killed the girl.  How dare you call here demanding anything?”  He swated at Cordy’s hands as she reached, trying to take the phone from him.   “Please…Do be quiet and listen.  There are now four vampires here, three master vampires and a true childe.  You come here, and they will kill you…I wouldn’t count on Angel.  It would be best for you to give this some time.  I will tell Willow you called, and she’ll decide.”  He hung up before she could protest more, and before the seer could get a good hold and take the phone.

“What?”  He eyed her suspiciously.  “If you’d have answered, then you could have told her off.  HA!”  He barked walking away, enjoying the last word.

~~~*~~~

Angel was deep inside the blond.   Spike’s shirt lay ripped and cast aside.  His pants had been pulled off, and thrown to the floor as well, leaving him utterly and wonderful naked.   The muscles in his arms were corded, straining against the chains, reaching for the freedom to touch him as he was being touch.   He growled again, deep in his chest, the demon coming to the fore.

His Sire pulled out completely before driving back in, eyes closed at the tightness of his boy.  He absently took Spikes hard cock into his hand and began pumping him slowly, in time with his never-ending thrusts.  The blond shook as Angel hit that spot inside him, the one he always found, and exploited, as he was doing now.  And Spike moaned loudly as he went there repeatedly, inciting whimpers, moans, growls and curses from the younger vampire until he bucked violently, cum erupting from his shaft and over the brunette’s large hand and his own belly.  Angel pumped faster, not letting him come down, and Spike screamed.

“CHRIST ANGELUS!”

Angel grinned, the features of his beautiful boy contorted in another orgasm, and still he worked his cock furiously, as Spike’s eyes rolled back, and his mouth opened in a silent scream.  His back was arched from the bed, every inch of him raged in ecstasy, and he started to lose consciousness, but Angel slowed his attentions in time, and slowly Spike felt his senses return, a tingling in his head, both heads, spreading over his body.

Angel pumped slowly, taking pity on him, knowing that he planned to bring the boy back to that plane in just a few moments.

Spike, panting, was not as delirious as his dear old dad thought, but had no intention of  fucking up Angel’s plans for him.   He glanced at the clock, noting that there was only 2 hours before sundown.   As Angel buried himself in his perfect childe, Spike counted the strokes until his own treasure arose.

~~~*~~~

Angel braced himself, arms locked firmly, holding him up as the warm shower water beat  down his marbled chest.   Most of the water, made it to the floor, swirling unnoticed into the drain, but a small bit was sucked into the blond's skilled mouth, and he doled out his own form of torture to his paralyzed sire.   It was his turn not to touch, to be please, but not be allowed to return that pleasure.  To feel out of your mind with what was being done, and have nothing to concentrate on but that feeling until you can only come again and again and again…

The older vampire growled, his head rolling back and forth, lost for something else to focus on, besides how cool his  boy's mouth was, how strong those lips were, how slippery it felt when his tongue flicked out over the head before he swallowed him whole again, letting his cock hit the back of his throat. How tight his balls were, how his boy kept him on the edge of coming for the past who know how long until he thought his legs would crumble.

Angel’s growl caused a smile to form, one that was impossible to sustain as he sucked relentlessly on his shaft, twisting him roughly with one hand, while massaging his balls with the other.

Suddenly his sire shuddered, hitting a fist against the shower, cracking the tile in his abrupt, deliciously violent and most welcomed orgasm.  He sank to the floor as his legs gave out.  Spike pulled away, swallowing his sire’s load, and licking his lips.  They both sat on the floor recovering until the shower ran cold.

Spike got up first, and gave a hand up to the dark demon.  He felt peace, his hand instinctively going to the renewed claim, both of them stepping out together, and dressing in comfortable silence.

The blond left the bathroom and sat on the floor next the settee, next to his Willow.  He felt Angel behind him.

“I miss her.  Her soul.  Do you think she’ll still love me?”  Spike knew that some demons found the idea of love ridicules and shunned it.

“Spike, if a bastard like Angelus loved you… loves you…then you’ll have no worries with the little one.”

“It’s dark.  Been dark for a bit now. It’ll be soon, right Angelus?”  At that moment he was William.  Just William.  His boy, looking up at him.  Needing him. Trusting him.

“Yes William.  Soon.”

A knock at the door, and both were up as Angel went to unlock it.

“Hey…”  Mina looked nervous, peeking past her brother to the sleeping witch.  “I was just wondering…”

The men looked sheepishly at each other, and Mina wondered at what just passed between them.

“Come on in. Wait with us.  It won’t be long now.”

“Tell me about it.  I can feel her demon everywhere.  She’s gonna pack a punch.”  Mina replied, glad she put the protection spell on everyone, including Cordy, after Wesley bested her.  She wasn’t sure what kind of magical backlash might come from the girl, before she gained her control.

“Well let’s do something,”  Spike suggested.  Two sets of feral eyes turned on him and he clarified.  “NOT THAT you perverts!  Cards.  Poker.”  Angel went over to his dresser and rummaged through the drawers.

“All I have is Go Fish.”

Mina’s eyes lit up with restrained laughter. Angel’s eyes darkened slightly at being the butt of yet another joke, Spike’s eyes rolled at his sire’s simple goofiness, and unnoticed, the redheads eyes opened.

~Part: 40~

“Spike…?”

Three heads turned, staring in awe at their first eyeful of the demon that was now Willow.   Spike, next to her, got up and knelt, taking her hands in his as he ignored the sensation of a small electric current running through them.  <Oozing magic!>

“Oh, Willow, luv…Do you know me?”

Confusion darted across her face, gone in seconds, as she tried to remember.  The only thing that seemed important was the blond in front of her.   His blue orbs drank her in greedily, and she was overwhelmed with the urge to fuck him right then.  She shifted, sitting up, her scent hitting all the noses in the room.

“Spike, I’m hungry,” she whispered, almost as if it were a valued secret.  “Very hungry,” she confirmed, smiling slyly as elongated fangs sank into the neck of the vampire before her.

He allowed her a few sips before pulling her back, his grip on her shoulders bruising.  He growled and she purred, basking in the feel of his hands crushing her, molding her to his liking.

“Now, now, little girl.  You need to ask.”

“Hmm…Sire…You’re my sire…”  Her eyes rolled up in her head as she wiggled, trying to get that elusive friction, and remembering that they weren’t alone, she looked from Angel to Mina ,then back to Spike.  “Please  I’m so hungry…Please Sire.”  She climbed from the settee to kneel with him, nuzzling into his chest.

“Cor, Angelus she’s beautiful.”   His demon screamed for him to take her, the pleading in her voice sulty and seductive, sending the blood straight to his cock.

“That she is,” Angel replied, a little of the Irish brogue evident, as was his childe’s arousal.

“Angel…”  She had mixed feelings about this vampire.  He was so powerful, the room vibrated with it, and it was terrifying and thrilling.  But she smelled the stench of his soul, muting his demon.  She wasn’t sure she wanted to be near him for long periods.

“Willow, how do you feel?  Do you remember what happened?”  He could sense her turmoil via Spike’s bond.

“I remember her.  She hurt me,” the redhead spat.  Turning to the blond, a low growl grew in her chest.  “Can we eat her, Sire?”

It was music to his ears.  He was worried that she may have residual feelings for the slayer, but that one question washed him over in an ocean of relief.   His girl would be a killer yet.

“We’ll drain her dry, rip her to shreds and serve her to cats.  How’s that?”  He kissed her forehead, punctuating his question.

“Oh...Or we could keep her alive for a while, make with a little torture,”  Mina added, loving this twist in the conversation.

“Or we could keep her alive period.  Make her our pet.  Imagine it…Our own pet slayer.”  Willow warmed to the topic quickly as Angel rolled his eyes.  He had to admit, the childe was going to be glorious, and Spike had better get up to the task of rearing her properly.  She was strong-willed and imaginative.  He chuckled a little, remembering a young William that gave him a world of trouble at every opportunity, and welcomed the irony.  Spike was going to get everything he did to Angelus back in spades.

“Let’s leave them, Mina.  William has some things to settle.”  Angel pulled a resisting Mina up from the floor and dragged her out the door.  He led her downstairs, finding Cordelia and Wes.  He knew they would want to know that the redhead was up and seemingly fine, in the demony way.

“She’s awake,” he announced, leaning on the counter of the office.

“Oh Cord!  Her first words were, ‘Can we eat Buffy?’ It was soo cute.”

“Ah… I like her already,” Cordy quipped.

“Not that cute. We need a slayer,”  Angel mumbled.

“When can I see her?”  The seer wanted to make sure that things were okay between her and the first childe of William the Bloody.

“Not for a while.  Not until she is ready.”

“So did she mention anything about eating anyone else, say… ME?”

Mina laughed at the self-centered girl.  She was priceless.

“Nope.  Amazingly, your name didn’t come up at all.”  Mina sat down beside the ex-cheerleader.  “World must be coming to an end, huh?”

“You know… They’re in my apartment,”  Angel commented, just realizing.

“Oh my God, Mina….rude much?” She gave the vampiress a playful slap on the arm.

“How come they're in my apartment?”

“You know I love you, Cordy.  I mean, you think more like a vamp than most vamps.”

“I can’t go in my own rooms.  Mina, can you transport them into Spike’s room?”

“Willow is so going to need new clothes, and the shops on Sunset don’t close till late,”  Cordy suggested, eyebrow raised.

“I’m there.”  Mina grabbed Angel and kissed him fiercly, before taking Cordelia’s hand and heading for the glass doors.

“Hey, transporter spell or something?”

“Angel, card.”  He pulled it from his wallet, not even bothering to protest or remind her of the limit.

“Wesley, you wanna come?  Be our chaperone?  Protect us from the evil creatures of the night?”  Mina was glowing with mischief.

“What?  No…I mean… I still have work to do… gathering the orbs.”  He nearly convinced himself.

“Suit yourself.”  She turned to leave, pulling the seer behind her as she moved a bit too quickly.

“MINA!”  Angel yelled as the door closed, cloaking the girls’ diminishing giggles.  “I HATE when she does that!”  He growled marching, angrily up the stairs, determined to evict his childe and grandchilde.

~~~*~~~

This was nothing like she envisioned.   Every inch of her flesh screamed for his touch, anything that he was willing to give her was a treasure beyond measurement.  He slammed into her cunt and bit into the upper flesh of her breast, tasting her new cooler blood, the precious magic ever-present.  She met him thrust for thrust, wanting him to go harder, hurt her just a little more.

“Sire…” she panted, breathing a habit that she’d forget soon.  She wondered that she fought this.  Agonized over whether she should become what she fought so fervently against.  And now that she had become, it was the most delicious thing created.  He, in her fledge-like opinion, was more the god to her than ever.  He’d always been god-like, so beautiful and powerful and brutal and controlled and unfailingly able to see into her.  The change intensified that and there was nothing he could not know about her.   And she loved him with a passion that diminished everything else.

There was a vague memory of a werewolf and her misguided feelings for him.  And there was the memory of a slayer, that once was a friend of her meeker, weaker self.  A slayer that attacked her and ultimately brought her to the brink of death.

Willow supposed she would have to than to thank her.  If not for Buffy, she’d still be human, restricted by human desires and dependencies.  And who knew how long it would have been before he turned her.  She was glad to be rid of her conscious and guilt.  She could have anything she wanted.  And planned to.

Yes, she would thank the slayer properly.  Soon.

His pounding was relentless, never missing a stroke as he lifted her leg to his shoulder, fingering her swollen nub until she was, again, clenching around him, growling and begging to bite him. His beautiful features were contorted as he fought for control, not wanting to come yet.  It amazed him, the increased power inside her, her walls gripping him in the most delightfully painful manner.  <Have to ask Angel about that.>

And Angel watched them from his sitting room.  In their lust to get to the bed, they’d neglected to close the door.  Angelus could not help but be proud.  Proud that his boy was…well, everything that he was got the older vampire’s demon up.  Proud that he’d chosen such a powerful human to bring to the family.  Proud of the new childe currently taking the screwing of her unlife and giving as good as she got.

He shifted, making a little room in his pants for his swelling cock and continued feasting with his eyes.

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