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~Part: 41~
Matthias stepped through the portal into the familiar surroundings of his and Luce's mortal apartment, stopping as he took in the sight of something quite unfamiliar. He grinned, silently moving over to his chair and sitting down to watch the show. (Vampires and their dominance games,) he thought, amused, (Looks like Angelus is being taught a lesson...) He almost laughed aloud at the sounds the chained vampire was making. (It doesn't matter what he says later, he's enjoying this...) He looked over at the blond, who was crouched over his Sire's face, thrusting himself deep within the other vampire's throat. (And so is Willia... Spike...) He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms as he waited for Spike to finish. Thankfully, the wait wasn't terribly long, as just a few minutes later, he saw the blond thrust hard, and heard the deep grunting moan reverberate through the room. He waited a few more moments, watching as Spike tucked himself away and buttoned his fly. "Hm-hm... Spike?" Matthias saw him jump and spin his head towards him, ready for some kind of attack. "If I was going to hurt you, I would have done it by now... Luce sent me." He stood and walked slowly over to where the blond was standing, staring down at the now thoroughly submissive vampire on the floor. "It looks like you've used your time well?" He couldn't contain his laughter, looking down at the dark-haired vamp with his pants cut away in the back. "I hope that you at least let him come?... but that wouldn't have taught him anything..." he said, answering his own question. "Well, in any case... Lucinda wants you two back at our place... she's been cooking something up with Willow..." Matthias glared at the blond. "You know... the girl that loves you? Who you walked out on... without a word?" He nodded in satisfaction as he took in the look on Spike's face before sighing and letting him off the hook. "It's OK," he said, seeing the look of pain in Spike's eyes. "Luce explained some of the finer points of the Sire/Childe relationship to her... but I'd explain it myself if I were you... You probably know more about it than Luce does... Now, come on... we don't have all day... And you might want to do something about... that..." he said, gesturing to Angelus' naked ass, "Or I will..."
Spike felt like an asshole... here he'd been having a good old time, fucking his bloody Sire senseless, and the whole time, he hadn't given even a moment's thought to his Red... (I'll be lucky if she ever forgives me... Hell, I'll be lucky if she even speaks to me again... How could I have just left like that? And I call my Sire a bloody wanker...) he thought despairingly. (I'll make it up to her... I will... if she lets me...) He looked at the young man, finally catching the last thing he'd said. "Well, I don't exactly have any clothes here for him... I guess he'll just have to go as is..." He smirked, thinking about the humiliation Angelus would feel having to greet Lucinda with his bare ass hanging out and come dripping down his thigh, and was surprised when Matthias just sighed and shook his head. He watched as the boy picked the knife up from the floor and crossed to the desk, putting it back in the drawer that Spike had taken it from.
Matthias closed the drawer and returned to the bound vampire on the floor, who had still not spoken a word. "No," he said, looking away from the dark eyes, "That would hurt her... to see him like this after all this time... I'll just have to fix it..." He closed his eyes, picturing the leather pants whole once more. He could feel the sweat breaking out on his forehead, and pushed himself even harder, relaxing when he felt the snapping in his chest that signalled that the job was complete. "There," he said shakily, "that's better..." He took a moment to regain his equilibrium before leaning down and picking the bound vampire up. "OK, Spike... let's go..." he said quietly, moving towards the wall and opening the portal home.
Spike stared after the young man for a few moments as he disappeared into the peach-coloured light. (So Lucinda doesn't realize just how innocent you're not... And I don't think she really wants to know...) he thought wonderingly, as he stepped forward himself. (And I'd really like to know why I didn't smell you just now... And how long you were there... But first...) "Red!" he called, as the portal closed behind him, "Red, luv..." He felt himself smiling as his arms were suddenly filled with a small warm redheaded witch. "Oh, Red, I'm so sorry..." he got out before he was suddenly rendered incapable of speech by the hot tongue that swiftly invaded his mouth. (Well, I guess she is gonna talk to me again...) he thought wryly, amused by the growls of displeasure coming from the chained form that Matthias had apparently deposited on one of the couches.
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Angelus couldn't believe what he was seeing... his witch, with his childe... and right in front of his face... it just wasn't right... especially after the time that he and Spike had just spent together. He hated to admit it, but his Childe was right... he wasn't the same, and had certainly proven it... Angelus grimaced. He didn't want to admit it, but William had grown up... had become his equal. (Maybe I should have included him in my games... not instead of Luce, but...) He growled again as he felt the thought, alone, cause an uncomfortable tightening in his groin. (But that was then... and I want Willow now, and I really don't think she'd be willing to share... unless it's with Spike...) He almost moaned at the thought of the three of them together, playing all sorts of games throughout eternity. (But, no... we don't have eternity... she's one of Luce's... FUCK!) There had to be some way around that, he decided, there just had to... and he was going to find it.
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Mykl had followed the Seer and the watcher out of the tunnels. He had hoped that they would go back to the club, but they hadn't; instead, they had walked through the streets of LA until they reached a rather charming, by mortal standards, apartment building, and entered the front door, walking to the second floor. He stood behind them as the Seer dug some keys from her pocket and unlocked the door. Following them inside, he looked around and saw a well appointed living room. (Ah... so this is where she lives... I'll have to tell Matthias about it...) He grinned, knowing that his friend had a bit of a crush on the girl. Mykl was actually in favour of Matthias being with the Seer, unlike his other friends. Archer and Rikk were violently opposed, mostly because the girl was mortal. They thought that Matthias would do better to find someone back home to be with, and they were so out of touch that they didn't realize that no one of a good family would ever make that sort of an alliance with the half-breed. (Forget the fact that he's twice the man that most of us pure-bloods are... that he's got more power than any scion of the oh-so-traditional-and-desirable houses... he's half human, so no 'respectable' lady will have him.) He frowned, just thinking about it. (And this Seer... she's a good one... she's got a fire in her... She would make him happy, I think, and I know that he'd do everything in his power to make her happy.) He sighed, (But that's up to them... and I'm not sure of how Luce would feel about it... oh, well, no sense borrowing trouble, but... I can at least find out if she's interested...) He grinned, having decided on a plan of action. It just wasn't fair for Matthias to be alone forever... and if he could find the kind of relationship he was looking for with a mortal, well, so be it. Mykl certainly wouldn't judge him for it. Mykl glanced around the living room a bit more closely, wanting to take all the details he could back to his friend. "Uh, Seer?" he said, "Do all mortals have the ability to float things in their homes?" He saw her looking at him oddly, and simply gestured towards the receiver of the cordless phone which was, even as he spoke, wafting its way across the room towards the dark haired girl. He was somewhat startled, but relieved, when the Seer just looked at the phone and laughed softly, before speaking to what was apparently empty air.
Cordelia saw the phone floating towards her, once it was pointed out. She had a brief moment where she couldn't believe that she hadn't even said hello to Dennis when she got home, and hoped that she could fix things with the ghost. The last time he'd gotten into a snit, he hadn't let her leave the house for two days... fortunately, it had been on a weekend, or she'd have been in big trouble with Angel for missing work. "I'm sorry, Dennis," she said placatingly, "You're right, I should have called! I was being thoughtless... I should have known that you'd be worried. It won't happen again, I promise... I'll even call if I think I'm gonna be like ten minutes late from now on, OK?" She smiled, relieved, as the receiver floated back to the base and settled there. She looked at Mykl. "Sorry, that's Dennis... my ghost. He worries if I'm late and don't call home. Oh, and you can call me Cordelia, you know... not that 'Seer' isn't good, but... my name is Cordelia... Cordy to my friends, but Cordelia's OK, too... So," she said, seeing the look on his face of someone who had just been given food for thought, "Can I get you something to drink? I have some coffee, but if I were you, I'd avoid that, unless Giles is willing to make it, because I am so not the coffee wizard, and I think I have some Coke, and maybe orange juice... nothing alcoholic, though... well, I did have some whiskey, but Spike's been here for like two days, so that's gone... What?" She motioned towards the couch when he just shook his head ruefully, and went into the kitchen to get herself and Giles some tea.
Mykl was amazed at what the girl-- (Cordelia...) he thought-- had just told him. (She... she lives here... with a guardian spirit... and she talks to it, knows its name. And she works for the Warrior... or she did, anyway... She accepts all the things around her that common sense tells her cannot exist...No wonder Matthias is drawn to her... there couldn't be another one like her in all the mortal world... With everything that she accepts on a daily basis, well, maybe she can accept Matthias, too...) He quickly hid his grin as the girl and the watcher came back out of the kitchen and sat down, continuing their earlier argument about which of them had angered the cousins more. (Yes,) he thought, watching the girl, (I definitely think she'd be good for him...)
~Part: 42~
Willow was almost angry with herself. She had sworn, silently, that when Spike eventually did return, she was going to ignore him, at least for a little while, until he finally understood just how much his leaving like that had hurt her. That had been her plan, anyway, until she had seen him step through the portal on Matthias' heels, and she had heard his voice calling her name. The next thing she knew, she had flung herself across the room at him and was in his arms, her lips pressed tightly against his, her tongue plundering the cool depths of his mouth. She could feel the intensity with which his firm body was responding to her, feel the almost desperate way that he was holding her, his arms wrapped tightly around her as if he'd never let her go... and she liked it... no, loved it, if she was going to be honest with herself. She had some idea of what he had been up to while they had been apart, and while a part of her was made kind of queasy by the very thought of what he'd been doing, another stronger part wished that she had been there to see it. She bet that Spike and Angelus, together, had been just beautiful. (But then again,) she thought, glancing over at the chained vampire on the couch, (Maybe it wasn't all that beautiful, after all...) She pulled her mouth away from Spike's, smiling as he growled his displeasure. "I... I missed you," she said, looking into his lovely sapphire eyes. "Don't do that again, OK? Just leave like that, I mean." She leaned her head against his chest when he nodded and threaded her fingers through his hair, pulling his face down for one more kiss, this time just a quick peck on his cool firm lips. She could have happily stayed in his arms forever, but was called back to the present when she heard the low, reverberating growls coming from the couch. She slowly, but firmly, pulled herself from Spike's grasp and walked purposefully to the restrained vampire. "Angelus," she said calmly, crouching beside him so that her face was level with his, "You're a fucking prick. What you did to me was just... mean, and if you don't want to lose me forever, you're gonna need a major attitude adjustment... Do you understand me?" She smiled lightly at his words of agreement before leaning forward and catching his lips in a soft kiss. She could feel him straining against the chains, trying to press himself closer to her, and laughed when he growled as she pulled away. "But right now," she said softly, looking towards the blonde, "Your childe and I need to get... reaquainted..." She grinned at Spike, glad to see his answering smile, full of love and lust, as she stood and held out her hand. She laughed out loud at the speed with which he crossed the room to take it. "Um... Luce?" Willow said, never taking her eyes from Spike's, "Is there somewhere that we can..."
Lucinda smiled and directed the two lovers to a very special room down the hall. "Oh, and Spike," she said softly, knowing that with his enhanced hearing, he would pick it up, "That particular room is sound-proofed... for my kind." She caught his surprised look. "That's right... Angelus will still be able to hear everything..." Lucinda grinned at Spike's delighted expression. "Go ahead, you two," she said, loudly enough for Willow to hear. "And have fun!" Her grin became wider as she saw the beginnings of a bright red blush spreading across the witch's face as Spike dragged her from the room. A few moments later, they all heard the sounds of a door being flung open, and then slamming shut on the sounds of breathless laughter in two very different voices. Luce smiled again, the expression becoming slightly harder as she crossed the room to the couch where Angelus lay and saw the expression on his face. "Well, what did you expect? That she'd come running to you? After what you did to her, you're just damned lucky that she loves you still! And believe me, if she were even a little bit more pure of blood, she wouldn't." Sitting down beside the couch, she saw the surprise in his eyes. "Yes, she told me. And I really want to know what the hell you were thinking! She's mostly mortal, Angelus... So what made you think that you could treat her that way and get away with it? You're damned lucky that she didn't greet you here with a stake!" She looked at the dark vampire who had meant so much to her... who still meant so much. "So what were you thinking?" she asked quietly, waiting patiently for an answer.
Angelus couldn't quite believe that he had actually heard Lucinda say what he thought she had. He wanted to believe it, but he wasn't sure if he could. He tried to raise his head, finding it difficult, what with being all chained up and laying flat on the couch, and was somewhat surprised when the boy, Matthias, helped by holding him up and slipping a pillow behind his head. He had almost forgotten that the young man was even there. "Thanks," he muttered quickly before turning his attention back to Luce. "She... she said she loves me? I mean, me... Angelus... not Soulboy... me." He looked at Lucinda's expressionless face. "But... why would she? She... she wants Spike... she's with him right now!" he growled, hearing the faint sounds from elsewhere in the apartment, the sounds of his damned childe making passionate love to his witch. "You're wrong, Lady," he said, knowing that his use of her former title would hurt her, "If she loved me, she wouldn't be there with him, letting him touch her..." His eyes closed involuntarily as the large, tightly clenched fist impacted squarely on his chin.
"I told you never to call her that again!" Matthias said harshly with a growl of his own. "Do it again, and I stake you myself, and I don't care who it'll hurt." He looked at Lucinda as he said the last, sighing in resignation when she gently shook her head.
"Matthias, love, why don't you go and check on Mykl? He's been stuck at the club for a while now..." Luce could see that he didn't want to go, and decided that she actually had the perfect incentive. "Oh, and you can tell Ripper and the Seer that they can go, now... it's safe... and that Angelus is here, along with Willow and Willia... Spike." She smiled, very slightly, as he turned to leave, after making sure that she'd be all right with the recently un-souled vampire. (After all,) she thought, watching the portal open, and then close behind him, (It wouldn't do for him to know that I approve of the girl...) "Well," she said quietly, looking at the vampire, "I suppose that I should explain that to you... his reaction to the whole Lady thing, I mean..." She sighed, standing up. "It's a long story, though, so..." She spread her hands out over his bound form and muttered a few words, too low for even his hearing to catch, and stood back as the chains suddenly separated. "You might as well be a bit more comfortable. Oh, and don't even think about it!" Lucinda said, seeing Angelus' eyes going to the doorway where Spike and Willow had disappeared. "You won't be able to find them unless I want you to, and I don't... not yet." She sat down quietly on the couch, patting the space beside her. "First, you have to feed, and then... well, we have a lot to catch up on..." She watched him closely as he reluctantly sat himself down beside her. She turned towards him, pulling her long red hair away from the side of her neck. "It's OK," she said to his questioning glance, "After what I'm sure you just went through with Wi... Spike, I think you need it." She sighed as she felt his teeth piercing her skin, remembering now why it had been so hard to let him go.
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Rocko was once again finding himself irritated with Martin. He had thought that the younger vamp was showing some promise, but here he was, suddenly having what Rocko could only assume was a crisis of conscience. After days of fucking the amnesiac Slayer, here was Martin, saying that he couldn't do it anymore, that they should just let the girl go, and Rocko wasn't going to let that happen... not ever. Hell, he liked the girl, at least he did now, with the state she was in... not trying to dust him, or his people, and wanting nothing more than to keep him satisfied. Well, him and Martin, anyway. He had originally thought that it was a shame that the others had been too afraid of the girl to have a go at her, but he had quickly decided that that just gave him more time with her. He chuckled to himself. And the time he had spent had been well worth it. Rocko pulled his mind back to his second in command. "No, Martin." he said flatly, "If you don't want to do this anymore, then fine, that's your priveledge, but the Slayer stays! I'm the one in charge here, not you. And I want her here. Hell, I like her. She's fun. And she seems to love everything I've been doing to her, so just forget about letting her loose. You don't want her anymore? Fine! She'll be all mine now, and if she ever remembers that she's the Slayer, well, I'll deal with that then." He turned away, listening as Martin left the lair. He rubbed his hand over his eyes, looking up again when he heard the soft sounds of movements from the blonde girl's room. He glanced at her doorway, smiling when she appeared. "Good morning, sweetheart," he said as she came to him and sat herself down in his lap, "And how's my little Sunshine today?"
"I'm fine," the girl said, leaning in and giving him a smouldering kiss. "But Rocko... baby?" She said softly, pulling away slightly, "It's been days, now... don't you think you could call me Buffy?" She grinned as he jumped a bit, and leaned in to kiss him again. "After all," she said slyly, "It is my name..."
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The assembled group of demons stared in awe at the big blond buffoon who was currently standing just inside the doorway. Of them all, only one or two of them had had any idea that the human was that stupid, but the rest were very quickly adjusting their minds to the reality. It was amazing, really. If this was the caliber of soldiers that the Initiative had employed, they were all deeply shamed that even one of their brethren had ever been taken. They might have stared at him all day, and well into the night, had Willie not taken matters into his own hands, reminding the demons of why none of them had killed the slimy little man yet.
"H..hey, there..." Willie stammered, coming out from behind the bar. "Ri...Riley Finn, right? The Slayer's boy friend... How ya doin', Finn? Ya wanna drink? Or maybe just some information? Cuz I got both here... free..." He saw the angry looks directed towards him, and went in for the kill, "After all, I wouldn't want to piss off... Agent Lilac!" He sputtered, not able to keep a straight face, as the demons around him burst out in a thousand variations of laughter.
Fortunately for Willie, Riley's experiences at the Initiative hadn't included much exposure to demons laughing, so he assumed that the sounds he was hearing were those of anger at the little man's rude comment. "Hey... hey guys," he said commandingly, "None of that! I'm sure Willie didn't mean to be... well, disrespectful. I forgive him." He stared around the bar, waiting for the assorted noises to die down. When they had, he approached the slimy little bartender. "Yes, Willie, I do want a drink... and some information... but first," he said, looking around at the patrons of the bar, "Would... would you guys mind if I hang out here for a while? I mean, Buffy's gone missing, most of my friends are dead, and I guess I'm just feeling... a little lonely?" He heard those same harsh sounds that he'd heard before, and realized that these demons, the ones he'd spent so much time trying to kill or capture, were expressing their displeasure at the very idea of Buffy hiding from him. He sighed, almost contentedly, as he took a seat at the bar and ordered himself a shot of whiskey. These demons weren't so bad... he wondered where the Initiative had gotten the idea that they were. He tossed back his shot and smiled at the big gray winged creature who sat down next to him. "So... what's your name?" he said, signalling for another shot. "Oh, Artera... that's a nice name..." He quickly became so embroiled in his conversation with the winged demon, who he found himself desperately hoping was a female, that he didn't notice the small groups that were forming throughput the bar, and even if he had, he never would have known, due to his lack of training in demonic languages, that they were all talking about the same thing... what to do about Riley Finn, aka Agent Lilac.
~Part: 43~
Lucinda sighed in both satisfaction and disappointment as Angelus pulled his fangs away from her neck. It had been too long since the last time she had felt him like that, and in a way, she was glad that he was back, even if she knew that she'd never feel him feed from her again... or at least, not for a very long time. "Mmm..." she moaned, as she felt his tongue gently lapping at the rapidly healing wounds. "You should..." she gasped, pulling away, "You need to stop that now." She was glad to hear that her voice was stronger. "It doesn't mean anything... you just needed to feed, that's all... that's the only reason I offered..." She chose to ignore the knowing look in his eyes as she shifted her body away from him. "So..." she said, trying to sound all business once more, "Where were we again?"
Angelus could feel the amusement bubbling away inside him, and feel the soul paying very close attention to what was going on. He didn't necessarily want the soul-y part of himself to hear the things that were going to be said, but he figured that if he had to, he could always ferret out the memories and block them from Soulboy later, even though that was kind of a pain in the ass... but he wanted to know, too, so maybe it would be worthwhile. "You were going to tell me about your brother, and why he gets so... pleasant... when I call you 'Lady'..." he said smoothly, sliding a bit closer to her. He laughed, low and dangerously, when she stood and moved to sit in the chair across from him.
Lucinda sighed to herself as she settled into her chair. (Damn... I'd hoped that he would forget about that...) "Yeah..." she stared off into space for a moment, thinking about how to begin. "All right," she said, "It's like this..." She looked across at his expectant expression. "Do you remember that last week? No, I'm not avoiding the question, it's just... the answer won't make any sense without the history..." She relaxed a bit at his nod. "OK, so that last week, the last time I saw you until the other night... and I know, it wasn't you, it was your soul-having half, but still..." Lucinda leaned back into the chair, wishing that she had a way out of this. She really didn't want to tell him the truth, but Angelus had always known when she was lying to him, and she had no reason to think that that had changed. "We were in London, remember? You, me, William, and Druscilla... We had gone to the opera, and who did we see as we were leaving?" she asked quietly.
Angelus wasn't entirely sure of what that had to do with anything, but he could tell that she thought that it was important. "Your parents... we ran into your parents..."
Lucinda nodded slightly, glad to see that he did remember. "That's right. And you introduced yourself, and your childre..."
"Yeah, and they seemed to be pleased to meet us all... said they were glad that you'd found some friends..." He was puzzled by the direction the conversation was taking. (What does any of this have to do with her parents?) He found himself startled by the bitter laugh that erupted from her lips.
"Well, of course they did! What else could they say? They're court after all! They could hardly be rude, now could they? I'm sorry," she said, calming herself, "That isn't helping, is it?" Lucinda sighed, yet again, ordering her thoughts once more. "So they were polite, and acted like they approved of you... But if you'll think about it for even a moment, how could they? How could they approve of their only living child being... 'friends'... with the two most vicious vampires in history, and with their... whore, for lack of a better word? If you'll recall, none of you saw me for three days after that night."
"We had actually wondered about that," Angelus replied quietly. "But we decided that if you wanted us to know, you'd tell us..." He still couldn't see what any of this had to do with her brother, though. "So what did happen, Luce? Where were you for those three days?"
Lucinda looked away, not wanting him to see the sadness in her eyes. "I was taken home... and given a choice. You don't need to know the details. I was given a choice, and I made that choice... I left you, all of you, but especially you... and I gave up my office..." She turned back to him, looking him in the eye, "And they let Matthias live." She stood and began pacing the room in aggitation. "Do you understand? I had to choose between you and Matthias, and I chose him... I chose for him to live, and in return... in return, I gave up you... and my title... I gave it all up... for him." She slowed her pacing for a moment, once again meeting his eyes, and this time seeing anger. "He is my heart, Angelus... there is nothing that I wouldn't do for him!" She knew she was shouting, but somehow couldn't bring herself to care as she watched the dark haired vampire shoot up from the couch and begin his own bout of pacing.
"And that's it?" he shouted back at her, "You left me! Left us! Because they said they would kill him? You came back to me for four days, knowing that when you left again, you wouldn't be coming back, and you couldn't even be bother to say so?" He stormed through the room, wanting to kill, or at least break something. "And you're fine with that, aren't you? It doesn't matter how I felt, expecting you back in a few hours! You knew! You knew that you weren't coming back! And you did it for Matthias! Hell, Lucera, why? It's not like they actually would have killed him! He's your brother, damn it! Your father would never kill his own son, just to keep his daughter in line!" He stopped suddenly, as something she had said earlier registered. "Wait," he said, stalking towards her, the anger still apparent in his voice, "You said that you're their only living child. How can he be your brother!" He could hear his own voice getting louder. "You've been lying to me, Lucera! Who is he?" he shouted, grabbing her by her upper arms and shaking her hard. "Who in the hell is he? He smells like you, he's always by your side, and if he's not your father's bastard, then just who the hell is he?" He felt himself slowing his shaking of the tall redhead when he heard the almost wild laughter she was emitting. "Who, Luce?" he said more softly, moving one hand up to cup her cheek and looking into her shattered green eyes. "Who is Matthias? What is he to you?"
Lucinda, who had once been called Lucera, looked away. "It doesn't matter, Angelus. It doesn't matter who he is. The only thing that matters, here and now, is that I left. And now you know why. And why he gets so upset when you call me 'the Lady'... he knows what I gave up for him." She pulled away from him, unable to bear his touch for even a moment longer. "Although honestly, I think that it means more to him than it does to me... what I gave up for him, I mean." She heard the swiftly indrawn, yet unnecessary, breath her companion took, and looked quickly back at him. "Not you... I could never mean you. I have missed you every moment of every day for the last hundred and twenty years. But!" she said sternly, as she saw him beginning to move towards her, "I don't regret it. I did what was necessary. I know you don't believe it, but they would have killed Matthias... they had tried it many times before. He is... an embarrasment to the family. The very fact of his existence is a slap in their faces. I bought his safety, but never think that it was an easy thing! It wasn't..." She stepped further away, needing to put more distance between them. "It was the hardest decision I have ever had to make. But I did make it, and I gave my word."
Angelus moved away and sat back down on the couch where the whole conversation had started, trying to understand. "But, why aren't you at home then? Why didn't they make you stay? If they wanted to control you that badly..."
Luce returned to her chair, trying to decide how much to tell him. (Ah, well, in for a penny, in for a pound...) "They tried... to make me stay, I mean... it didn't work. I played the good little girl for a year or so, and when they finally relaxed their guard, I... left. I took Matthias, and I left. After all, they never made me give my word that I'd stay!" She could see the disbelief in his eyes and clarified. "I did have some help... You remember my retainers?" She smiled slightly at his confused nod. "They were sworn to me, personally, not me in my office as the Lady... so when I was ready, they helped us. They're still with me... although now they wield instruments of music instead of instruments of war," she said fondly.
Angelus thought for a while about everything she had just told him, and slowly came to a harsh realization. "So, everything that happened... it was because of me. Because I wanted you... because we were together."
Lucinda just looked at him for a moment before sighing and shaking her head. "No, Angelus... you could just as easily blame me, for wanting you, too, or my parents, for going to the opera that night, or bloody Wagner, for writing the Ring Cycle in the first place!" She shook her head again, more slowly this time. "No... it's nobody's fault... or it's everybody's." She sat up straight, meeting his eyes once more. "But none of this matters now. What matters is that little witch you're in love with... and that childe of yours, whom you are also in love with... and how you're going to make things right with them."
"I... I'm not sure that I can," he said regretfully. "I'm not all broody and apologetic like Soulboy. I'm a demon... I can't be all 'boo-hoo, sorry I hurt you' to them... I just can't! I don't think I have it in me." He felt almost hopeful at Lucinda's next words.
"Well, maybe not... but I think if you just tell them it won't happen again..." She smiled, hiding the sorrow deep inside herself. It would never do for him to know just how much she still wanted him... and William.
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Matthias stepped through the portal into the C-noe Lounge, surprised that he couldn't feel Mykl or the two mortals anywhere. He extended himself even further, and was glad that he could at least sense someone he recognized... he'd thought that his powers were malfunctioning for a minute there. "Waiter Bob!" he called, walking down the hall and into the main room of the club, "Where are you? I know you're here, I can feel you!" He heaved a slight sigh of relief as the man's head slowly arose from behind the bar. "What's wrong?" he asked, "Why are you hiding?"
Waiter Bob was so glad to see someone he knew, and even more glad that that someone was a warrior. "Is... is he gone?" he said timidly, eyes darting throughout the room, paying special attention to the shadowy corners.
"Is who gone?" Matthias asked, confused for a moment until he recalled what had happened the last time he'd seen the servant. "Oh, Angelus?" he said, stifling a laugh as the man jumped a bit and almost disappeared behind the bar again. "Yes, he's gone... He's with Luce... at home." He gently shook his head as the man slowly decided that in another dimension was far enough away for safety. "So where is everybody?" he said curiously as Waiter Bob came out from behind the bar, "Luce sent me to find Mykl and the mortals, but I don't sense them anywhere nearby."
Waiter Bob looked into the corners one more time before answering. "Uh... Archer, VanWey, and Rikk all went to the coffee bar down the street, and Mykl and the mortals left a while ago... I'm not sure to where, though... He's really with Luce?"
Matthias tried not to let the smile show in his voice. "Yes, he's really with Luce... you're perfectly safe now. So you don't have any idea of where the Seer... I mean, where Mykl went?"
"No... all I know is that the two mortals ran out of here, and he followed them... You could try paging him, though... I have the number right here..." Waiter Bob reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black book. "Your... Lucinda insisted that they all carry pagers while in LA... she said she knew what they were like when she let them loose in a city, and she wanted to be able to reach them if she had to," he explained, writing the appropriate number on a napkin. "There you go, Matthias... uh, do you need me for anything else? I... I'd kind of like to go home now..."
Matthias looked fondly at the still scared little man. "No, Waiter Bob, you can go home... and why don't you take a couple of days off, rest up? Don't worry," he said, seeing the servant about to object, "I'll cover for you. It's OK, I'll tell Luce..." He grinned at the grateful response as he watched the little man disappear through his own portal before going to the phone and dialing the number he'd been given. He waited for the ringing to stop, entered the necessary information, and sat down by the phone to wait. Thankfully, the wait wasn't long.
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Mykl had been having a better time than he had ever thought he could have with two humans, even if those two humans were Ripper and the Seer. They had been sitting in the girl's living room for almost an hour now, talking about movies, and music, and books. Mykl found it amusing that Ripper had apparently had no idea that Cordelia could read, and that Cordelia had had no idea that Ripper actually went to the movies. It somehow amazed him that these two could be friends for so many years, and defeat all the evil that they'd told him about in passing, and yet somehow had managed to know next to nothing about each other. Still, he supposed, how much did he really know about what his friends and bandmates got up to when he wasn't around? He was on his third cup of tea, and about to suggest that they all play a game of cards with the Seer's guardian spirit Dennis, who had been floating cards at them for at least a half an hour now, when he heard the shrill beeping coming from his pocket.
"Uh, Mykl?" Cordelia said, after a few moments, "Your pants are beeping... I think you're done." She laughed at the look of confusion on his face. "Relax... I was making a funny. I think that's your beeper, though."
Mykl jumped up from the couch feeling like an idiot. He had been carrying the thing around for over a week now, but he had never actually had to use it before. Apparently his bafflement was obvious, because Cordelia stood and just held out her hand.
"Here," she said helpfully, "Let me." She smiled as he handed the small unit to her, and crossed to the phone, explaining in simple terms exactly how to use it. "And then, you just dial the number, and... Voila!" she said, as she heard the ringing start on the other end of the line, and handed the phone to him.
Mykl waited. Listening to the ringing, until finally the phone was answered on the other end. "Yeah, you paged me?... No, I know I was supposed... yeah? Well you try stopping her... No, no, we're at the Seer's place... Yeah, I think that would be a good idea... No, I don't think... but... No!... OK... Yeah, OK!... Hold on..." He turned to the two humans, covering the mothpiece with his hand. "Matthias has some news... Is it alright if he comes here?" He almost laughed at the Seer's enthusiastic nod. "What's the address again?" He removed his hand and began speaking into the phone again, relaying the information Cordelia was providing. "Yeah... OK, see you soon." Hanging the phone up, he turned to his two new friends. "He'll be here in about twenty minutes," he said, both alarmed and amused as Cordelia went into action, babbling something about changing her clithes and brushing her hair as she flew down the hall. He heard a door slam, and looked to the watcher for an explaination.
Giles just looked at the man sitting there in Cordelia's living room. "That's Cordy for you... tell her that a... I believe the word is 'Hottie'... is coming to visit, and all she can think of is her appearance." he said drolly.
Mykl smiled slightly. (Well, I guess now I know that she's interested.) He felt his smile growing wider, and let it. At least now he had some good news to tell his friend.
~Part: 44~
Angelus stared at Lucinda, as she stared off into space. They had really said everything that there was to say, and quite frankly he was becoming... bored. Add in to that the fact that he could still hear his childe and the redheaded witch going at it somewhere nearby, and he found himself in the somewhat confussing position of being both bored and... angry?... irritated? No, he realized, it was more like bored and... envious. Not that he was sorry to have finally had the opportunity to hear what had happened, and why she had left, but... He sighed. There was no going back, and regardless of the things she had told him, he just knew that there was a whole lot more that she wasn't saying. But he'd find out eventually, and in the meantime, hadn't he suffered enough? He'd been listening to his witch and his childe for over an hour now, and not even the soul-having portion of him was pleased at the enjoyment apparent in their voices... if you could call the range of grunts, moans and growls voices. He sighed again, and shook his head before breaking the silence. "Uh, Luce?" he said, the sound of his voice startling them both. "How long do you expect me to just sit here, listening to that?" He gestured broadly, knowing that she'd understand what he was talking about.
Lucinda shook her head slightly, surprised at herself. She'd almost forgotten that Angelus was there. She concentrated for a moment, her brow furrowed, before relaxing back into her chair. "All right, Angelus," she said calmly, "Go. Down the hall, take the first corridor to the left." She closed her eyes, remembering the past. "You'll find them... just follow your ears..." She heard him leave the sitting room, and smiled slightly. She remembered a time when it would have been her that he was racing after with such speed... but that was over, she thought, and just as well... there were things that she couldn't tell him, at least, not yet... and Angelus never had liked secrets. She sat a few moments longer before finally taking herself in hand. There was nothing wrong with thinking on the past, but if she was going to help Willow, she had to find her people and talk to them. She sighed, standing and walking to the portal wall. (They're really not going to like this...) she thought as she stepped through the peach-coloured glow.
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Mykl tried not to laugh out loud as he watched the Seer fluttering around his friend. Matthias had arrived only ten minutes earlier, and Mykl was pretty sure that Cordelia hadn't taken her eyes off him for more than five seconds at a time. She had answered the door, and sat him down on the couch, and now she was staring at him in rapt attention as he told them all about what had happened since he'd left the C-note Lounge with the chained Angelus flung carelessly over his shoulder. Mykl could hear the girl's breath coming faster and harder just hearing Matthias' voice, and he could tell, even if the two mortals couldn't, that his friend was just as flustered at being in the Seer's presence. (Maybe they could use some time alone...) he thought, noticing the speaking glances the two were exchanging. (Matthias hasn't been this interested in anyone in a long time... he deserves the chance to see if there's anything there...) Mykl grinned slyly to himself. He knew what was there between those two, and he'd be willing to bet that they would, too, if they just had the opportunity to explore the possibility. He looked at Ripper, catching his eyes and tilting his head towards the door when he knew he had the other man's attention. He stood, relieved to see the watcher following his lead. "Well," he said, interupting the conversation which had moved on to other areas, such as the two young people's favourite colours and foods, "Ripper and I have a bit of catching up to do... if that's all right with you two, that is?" He almost laughed again as Matthias and Cordelia both hastily agreed. "So, Matthias, I'll see you at the club? And Seer... I mean Cordelia... it's been... interesting... I'm sure I'll be seeing you soon, as well." He grinned at Matthias' dark scowl and left the apartment, Ripper close behind. (And if that doesn't do it... I'll just have to try harder next time...) he thought as the two men reached the street and headed for a nearby bar.
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Spike groaned as he felt the little witch rock against him once more. He hadn't known that she had it in her, but they'd been at it for quite some time now, and she was showing no signs of wanting to stop any time soon. Which was, he supposed, a good thing, but it was still a little bit... odd. After all, she was human. (Well, OK,) he thought with an internal chuckle, ( mostly human... but hell, the girl's got stamina! Good thing I'm a vampire... I don't think any mere mortal could keep up with her...) He gasped, his eyes rolling up in his head, as she slammed herself down on his cock once again, his hands grabbing her hips in a bruising grip as he heard her cry out his name and he came hard inside her. His hands slowly slid up her sides, carressing her skin with light feathery touches as she collapsed on top of him, her head resting lightly over his non-beating heart. "Oh, pet," he murmered against her silky hair, "You are just... amazing..." He grinned at her answering giggle, the grin fading a bit as he felt the presence of his Sire just outside the door. (Oh, bloody hell... Angelus... and he's sure to be pissed after our little... encounter...) He sighed, shaking his head slightly. (Ah, well, might as well face the proverbial music.) he thought, as he leaned closer to his witch's ear. "Red," he whispered softly, "Angelus is here. No," he said quickly when she jerked against him, "He's just outside, in the hall... What do you want to do? I can try to send him away if that's what you want, but..."
Willow raised her head and met his lovely blue eyes. "But he probably wouldn't go... No," she whispered back, determined, "It's time... but if he..." She saw Spike's nod, and felt better... less nervous. "Come in, Angelus," she called out, not moving from her spot atop her blond lover. "We've been waiting for you." She said softly as the tall dark vampire entered the room. "None of that!" She stated harshly when he growled at the sight of them together. "You knew what we were doing before you even came in. Gods, you could probably smell us out in the hall!" Her voice softened at his reluctant smile and nod. She gently pulled herself away from Spike and rolled to the edge of the bed. She stood and walked to the still slightly glower-y Angelus, ignoring the fact that she was entirely naked, and stopped in front of him, looking up into his face. "I told you before, you need to adjust your attitude if you don't want to loose me... and that means accepting the fact that while I do love you, I also love Spike... and I have no intention of giving him up... not for you, not for anyone. So, if you don't think you can handle that, then you should leave right now." She reached up, putting her hands on the back of his neck, and pulling him down to her. She leaned in closer, running the point of her tongue over his slightly parted lips and kissing him hard before suddenly pulling away. "Think about it, OK?" she said, turning back towards the bed.
Angelus felt like he'd just been hit in the head with a brick, and it didn't help that the soul trapped within him was crowing in delight. He didn't particularly mind sharing his witch... at least, not with his favourite childe... but still, it rankled not to have a choice in the matter. He thought for a moment, feeling the soul communicating with him, and came rather quickly to the sad conclusion that Soulboy was, indeed, correct. He could only have the girl if he accepted her love for his childe... he only hoped that they'd accept his love... for both of them... eventually. He nodded grimly and crossed the room. Settling himself gingerly beside his redhead on the edge of the bed, he discarded all of the convoluted plans and plots that he'd come up with earlier and did something he didn't think he'd ever done. He was honest. "I won't say that I'm sorry for anything that happened, Willow... I'm not. I'm a demon... I enjoyed it. But... I didn't enjoy going home and finding you gone... and if Matthias hadn't stopped me, I would have done even worse once I found you..." He saw the knowledge of that very fact in her wide emerald eyes, and was surprised that she didn't move away. He continued after taking her small warm hand in his. "But he did stop me, and I had some time to think while I was all chained up. Well, I thought, and then Spike showed up and... taught me a lesson of my own..." He glanced over at his childe, allowing his amusement to colour his voice. "And don't think I didn't learn from it, boy... I did... of course, I also enjoyed it, as you very well know... Don't look so surprised, Spikey. If we're going to make this work, we need to be honest with each other. And, much as I hate to admit it, I do want this to work." He reached out his other hand to his wayward childe, sighing to himself in relief when the blond hesitantly took it. "But," he said, looking at them both, "While I may have learned a thing or two in the last little while, it doesn't change who I am... I'm not all broody and guilt-ridden like Soulboy, and I'm not likely to all of a sudden become the perfect man... or vamp... whatever. All I can say is that I'll try not to be too much of an asshole... to either of you..." He looked away, studying the floor. "That's the best I can do. So the question is... is it enough... for both of you?"
Spike looked down at the large hand wrapped around his own slightly smaller one and wondered if Angelus was saying what he thought he was. On the one hand, he knew that his Sire loved Willow, but somehow, to Spike, it sounded as if maybe he was saying that he still... loved him? ... wanted him? Something. On the other hand, Spike knew that no matter what Angelus said, he had to still be angry about what had happened between them earlier. He couldn't possibly have forgiven that, but he spoke as if he had, and as much as Spike wanted to believe that it was over with, he just... didn't. He was sure that there would be a reckoning, but... if it meant having his Sire back in his life, or un-life, maybe it'd be worth it. He looked up, meeting the eyes of his beautiful witch and seeing the question there. He closed his eyes for a moment, considering his answer, and finally came to a decision. Looking back at his Red, he nodded slightly, smiling broadly at the thanks in her eyes. Spike slowly pulled his hand from his Sire's and rolled off the bed. He stood and slowly approached, noticing that the dark haired vampire never looked up from the spot he appeared to be memorizing on the floor. He chuckled softly and reached out, tilting his Sire's head up to meet his eyes. "All right, Angelus, you try that... but be aware. If you fail, well, let's just say there'll be hell to pay. Y'got that, mate?" He watched as Angelus slowly nodded, the corners of his lips tipping up in the beginnings of a relieved smile. "So, just one more thing, Sire..." Spike almost laughed at the look in the other vampire's eyes. (Damn... he's afraid I was playing with him, the fool... Like I'd play around with Angelus when it's something he cares about...) He pulled his mind back to what he'd been saying. "Red and I were wondering... why are you the only one here wearing... clothes..." he spat out the last word as if it were something offensive, and laughed as his Sire looked at his Red questioningly.
Angelus almost couldn't believe what his childe had just said, but looking at his witch, seeing her nod of agreement, he did believe. He wanted to cry out, giving thanks to a god he'd never believed in, or jump up and down like a child at Christmas... but that would have been undignified. Besides which, he could feel Soulboy thanking god enough for both of them, so he did the only thing he could. "Well," he said, standing in front of his childe as he felt his... their... witch get up from the bed as well, "I didn't think our hostess would appreciate it too much if I wandered around her home naked..." He could hear the shakiness of his own voice and stopped talking as he felt both of their hands pulling and tugging and unfastening his clothes. His eyes fluttered shut, as he filed away the sensations in his memory. This was something he never wanted to forget. He laughed, his eyes flying open at what they said next.
"I don't think she'd have minded, Sire..." Spike said, pushing the shirt from Angelus' shoulders and leaning in to lick his chest slowly.
"Well, really," Willow added, her hands pushing the leather pants down over his hipbones as she pressed her hot soft breasts against his cool hard back, "Who would?"
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Lucinda stalked from the C-note, her expression giving only the sligtest indication of the full measure of her fury. (Those... bastards!) she thought angrily. (How could they even think that, much less say it? As if I would ever ask them to do this just for my benefit! It's not for me! It's for them... and our side of the fight! We need the Warrior fighting for us! In the end, he may be our last, best hope... there are things that he can do that no one else can! And they had the nerve to say that I wanted their help just so I could get my lover back... as if I only left him yesterday! I mean, Gods! It's been over a hundred years, and I never even looked for him! And to even suggest that I set this whole thing up! I didn't send the Seer the vision... but I wish I knew who did! And if I ever do find out... well, someone's going to die... slowly... and painfully, and as messily as possible...) She stopped suddenly as the full ramifications of what had happened hit her. (Oh... fuck me... they aren't going to help. And I can't do it by myself... I don't have that kind of power. Even with the three of them, myself, Mykl, Matthias and Willow, it would have been close... but I think we could have pulled it off... probably... but without them... there's just no chance!) She leaned back against the wall of the building beside her and rubbed her eyes in despair. (Oh, gods... what do I tell Willow? I promised to help her... I gave my word. I never expected them to turn me down... never.) She sighed, pushing herself away from the wall and pulling a small red leather-bound book from her jacket pocket. She flipped through the pages as she approached a pay phone on the next block. Dialing the number from the book, she waited a moment, and then entered the number on the pay phone. Hanging up, she leaned against it, waiting. It wasn't a long wait, however, as the phone began to ring just a few moments later. "Matthias." she said hurriedly, "Where are you? Something's happened... No, I don't want to discuss it over the phone.... All right, then I'll come to you. Where are you?... OK, and how do I get there?... Hold on a moment, love..." She rested the receiver on her shoulder as she dug through all of her pockets, finally coming up with a pen. "All right, love... yeah... OK... No, no, I'll take a cab, I suppose... Yes... I'll be there soon. Oh, and Matthias?" She said, trying unsuccessfully to keep the amusement from her voice, "Tell Cordelia that I said 'Hello', and I'll see her when I get there." She grinned as she heard him sputtering on the other end of the line. "I can hear her, love... See you soon." She hung up on his continuing babble and walked to the curb, quickly hailing a taxi and getting in. "I need to get to this address quickly," she said, handing the driver the page torn from her little red book.
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Angelus had been to hell. Granted, he'd been caged up by the soul at the time, but he'd still been there. That very experience was what had him convinced that he was now in Heaven. It would have been unbelievable, except that he wanted so badly to believe. If anyone had ever told him that he would find pure enjoyment in the arms of his childe and a mostly-human witch, he would probably have killed them, just on general principles, and yet, here he was, almost completely content. He gasped, the sensation of two sets of lips, hot and cool, moving on his skin almost driving him crazy... or crazi-er, anyway. He raised his head up off the pillow and looked down his body, the visual stimulation enhancing the tactile. He saw the blazing crimson hair spread over his broad chest as his witch licked slowly and lingeringly at his tight nipples. Her tongue was so hot, and her fingers, trailing lightly up and down his sides, were so very soft. But then again, she was, on the whole, a soft and hot little thing, which made her such a nice contrast to his favourite childe, who was, even then, showing his Sire just how cool and... hard he was. Angelus groaned loudly, feeling his childe's teeth scraping hard against the skin of his inner thigh, his cool rough hands gripping his hips tightly to keep him from moving on the bed. The two of them were thoroughly controlling him, and damned if he wasn't loving every minute of it! He could feel Spike's long hard cock pressing against the side of his leg, and Willow's excitement was apparent in the very air. As much as he was enjoying this, he wished that they'd just move it along already. If they didn't, he might very well end up being the asshole he'd promised not to be. He didn't even feel the growl coming on before it escaped his lips.
Willow smiled and raised her head from his smooth pale skin. "Aw... Spikey, I think Angelus is feeling impatient." She said, low and silky. "Maybe he's not enjoying himself..." She turned her head, looking down the large body to meet the golden eyes of her other lover. She grinned, seeing the demon plain on his face. "Do you think he wants us to... stop?" she asked teasingly.
"No, pet," Spike said wickedly, "I think he wants us to do... this, maybe." He reached for her hand and pulled it to join his on the throbbing cock of his Sire. He smiled toothily as the sudden loud purring filled their ears. "Yeah, Red," he said as they began stroking the rock hard shaft, "I think he likes that... maybe he'll like this, too, then..."
Willow watched amazed as Spike lowered his cool mouth to Angelus' cock and began licking his way from the base to the tip. She heard the purring become rougher as Spike slowly licked at the slightly seeping tip. "I think he does like that, Spike..." she said consideringly, trailing her fingers up and down the large cool penis. She came to a decision of her own, and lowered her head to join her blond lover's.
"Are you sure, pet? That you want to do this, I mean... after..." He looked at her, concerned until she responded.
"Yeah... it'll be OK, Spike... I mean, you're here, and..." she saw the understanding in his eyes. He'd stop things if they got too out of control, she knew. He wouldn't allow a repeat of her 'punishment'. She smiled at him as her tongue joined his on Angelus' throbbing cock, twining their tongues as they slipped their wet mouths up and down the sensitive skin, listening to the increasingly loud growls and purrs coming from their new lover.
Angelus almost wanted this to go on forever. The combination of their hot and cold mouths on his hard dick was amazing... but it was fast becoming too good. He didn't want to come yet... not from their mouths, anyway, but he somehow couldn't seem to speak, and every time he tried, he could only growl. He wanted them... needed them... and now! So he did the only thing that he could think of. He put his hands on their heads, and gripped their hair to pull them away, cursing himself silently when he felt Willow stiffen in fear. (Fuck! What the hell was I thinking?) he wondered, almost hating himself until he felt her relax. (Good... she understands...) he thought, relieved.
Willow thought that she'd die of fright alone when she felt his hand in her hair, but after a moment, she realized that he was trying to pull her mouth away from him instead of what he'd done before. She looked at Spike, shaking her head slightly at the anger she saw in his eyes. 'No.' she mouthed silently, relieved to see the anger fade when he realized she was all right. She smiled a bit shakily before sitting up and looking into the dark eyes at the head of the bed. "Is Angelus tired of playing then?" she asked softly, crawling slowly up his body and brushing his lips with her own. She almost shrieked with delight as he grabbed her, rolling them over.
"Oh, yes," Angelus purred, looking down into her eyes, "Definitely tired of playing..." He leaned down, crushing his lips to hers in a breath-defying kiss as he felt her legs wrapping around his waist. He pulled back, looking at her in surprise.
"You're right," she said brazenly, her desire clearly visible in her eyes. "Enough playing," she murmured as she writhed beneath him until she felt the large head of his cock poised at the entrance to her dripping core. "Play time's over..." she moaned as she thrust herself up onto him, pulling him deep within her with her legs, "For now..."
He wanted nothing more than to just lay there for a moment, reveling in the sensation of her tight, wet heat surrounding him. She felt amazing! He understood now how being with her had been Soulboy's downfall. She was perfect... all that fire, hidden behind all the innocense. Yes, she was a worthy consort for him... and his childe. He began to slowly thrust within her, feeling her hips rocking slowly beneath him. He looked down at her, loving the look of intense concentration on her face. "Look at me, Willow... love," he said softly, his eyes widening as she opened her eyes and he saw the love there... for him. "I want to watch you... see your eyes when you come..." He smiled at her nod and slight whimper. "You are so beautiful, my love... so beautiful." He pulled almost all the way out of her, and slowly slid himself back in, loving the way her eyes went wide when he was once again completely sheathed within her. He hadn't thought that anything could ever be this perfect... it was completely inconceivable to him... at least until he felt the long cool fingers on his ass. He couldn't help himself. He groaned. "Spike..." he said roughly, growing still within the redhead.
"What, you didn't forget about me, did ya, mate?" the blond said, grinning slightly as he ran his strong pale fingers along his Sire's crack, gently probing. His grin broadened as he watched Angelus' legs part slightly, allowing him better access. "Remember, Angelus... we're one big happy family now. Share and share alike, y'know?" he said as he found the tightly puckered hole. Slipping his finger into his mouth to wet it, he moved it back to the clenched opening, slowly sliding it deep into his Sire's ass. "Now, I know you're enjoying shagging our Red... loving it, in fact. But you mustn't forget about dear old Spike... I want in on the shag-fest, too." He smiled at his Sire's back, slipping a second finger in to join the first and pumping them gently.
Angelus thought that he just might die... just go up in a ball of flames, he was so hot... his cock in his witch, his childe's pale, elegant fingers in his ass... it was incredible, and he wanted more. He groaned, feeling the oh so talented fingers thrusting slowly in and out of him. "Spike," he growled, not caring that his need was right there in his voice, "Spike... do it..." He grunted, feeling the fingers slip from him as he adjusted his position a bit, spreading his legs wider as he slid his forearms under Willow's knees. He gasped, feeling the head of his childe's magnificent cock against his puckered opening. He felt almost like he was being ripped apart as Spike slowly pressed himself forward, filling him completely.
Willow watched her dark lover's face as he accepted his favourite childe deep within his body. (I was right,) she thought with wonder, (they are beautiful together... or at least, Angelus is beautiful when Spike's fucking him...) She giggled to herself, (I'll have to watch them together sometime if I want to see what Spike looks like, though... Angelus is too big to see around...) She gasped as the two men above her began moving again. It felt almost as though she was making love with both of them.
Spike felt incredibly good. He was deep inside his Sire, while his Sire was buried deep within their witch. It was so much better than the last time... of course, that had been about revenge, not love... and yes, Spike finally admitted to himself, he loved Angelus... Willow, too, but he actually didn't hate his Sire anymore... or at least, not the way he used to. He felt himself losing the ability to think any more. Angelus just felt so good. He could feel the familiar tightening in the pit of his stomach, and thrust a bit harder and faster into the cool tightness of his Sire's ass, hearing the groans in response. Spike smiled. Angelus had increased his speed as well, if Red's moans were any indication. Just the thought of her there, beneath the two of them, writhing in pleasure as his Sire's thick hard cock pistoned into her, was enough. He groaned aloud, clutching Angelus' hips as he thrust himself deep, and spilled his cold seed into his Sire's cool tight ass.
Willow almost screamed when Angelus sped up his thrusts. He felt so good inside her. Not better than Spike, just... different... She pulled her eyes back to his, remembering that he'd wanted to see her eyes when she orgasmed. She knew it wouldn't be long. Not long at all, she thought, as she felt the delicious tingling spread through her like fire. "Angelus!" she cried, her back arching, grinding her clit against him, as she exploded into delerium, "Angelus!" She felt him within her, and knew that he was almost there himself, just from feeling her... and Spike. She reached up, locking her hands behind his head. "Drink!" she commanded, staring deeply into his now golden eyes. She saw those same eyes widen, and nodded to him, pulling his mouth to the side of her neck which didn't bear Spike's mark. "Drink..." she murmured softly, wanting to feel his sharp teeth in her, just as she felt his hard throbbing cock.
Angelus was sure, now... this was Heaven. He thrust hard into her, piercing her smooth sweet skin as she bucked against him. She was ambrosia... spicy and sweet, intoxicating... she was bliss... the taste of her blood in his mouth, her hot, tight channel pulsing around him... He pulled back from her neck, pounding deep into her once... twice... three times, before he finally stopped fighting it, and spilled himself deep within her, flooding her with his cold dead seed as he collapsed atop her. He slowly took three deep un-needed breaths, and pulled himself from her, rolling to the side and pulling her to him. He smiled as his childe settled himself on her other side. "So, William," he said softly, pulling the blond's hand to rest with his on their redhead's ribcage, "Now you know my darkest secret... I like it when you fuck me... especially if I'm in our witch at the time." He grinned down at Willow's wide eyed look, and lowered his mouth to lick at the slightly seeping bite he'd given her. "Shocked, love?" he asked softly, hoping she was OK with the sexual part of his relationship with his childe.
"No," Willow said slowly, "Not... shocked, exactly, I mean, Bi-sexual here! But, um... if you and Spike ever want to... without me..." She closed her eyes, knowing she was turning bright red. "Um... can-I-watch?" Eyes still closed, she didn't see the looks of amazement and awe the two vampires were exchanging. "'Cause you're both just... gorgeous, and... I just bet you're beautiful together... and, and... I love you... both of you, and... Hey!" she cried, her eyes flying open at the sound of their laughter, "It's not funny, damn it!" She sat up, arms crossed, and pouted at them.
Angelus looked at Spike, knowing that they were both thinking the same thing. His grin echoing his childe's, they each reached out a hand and pulled their little witch down between them once again. "Now, love... we weren't laughing at you! We weren't!" he insisted at her look of disbelief. "We were laughing because... well, we... I was worried that you'd be... repulsed?... disgusted?... something like that... by the idea of Spike and me together, and you weren't! Hell, you want to watch!" He laughed again, his childe joining him. "Do you have any idea of how rare and precious you are to us? And if you really want to watch, I certainly don't mind! Hell, as far as I'm concerned, you can watch and join in!" He smiled at the girl, knowing that he'd never let her go... never. He looked again at Spike, seeing that once again, they were in complete agreement.
"Yeah, Red... watch, join, whatever... just as long as you're with us, you can do pretty much anything you want. Promise!"
Willow thought about that for a few moments, and finally looked up at her two vampires. "Well, OK... but, um..." she started to blush again at their questioning looks. "Could we, um... do that again?... Now?" She covered her face with her hands as her lovers looked at each other and burst out laughing once again.
"She'll be the death of us yet, mate." Spike said happily, lowering his head to lick at her nipple.
"Good thing we're already dead then, ey, Spikey?" Angelus replied teasingly before claiming her other breast for himself.
~Part: 45~
Matthias stared at Lucinda, as stunned as he had ever been by anything in his life. "And they just refused? No thought, no explaination, no nothing? Just told you that you're on your own, and they won't help." He shook his head slowly, trying to understand. The only problem was that it didn't make any sense. They were her retainers, sworn to her service for almost three hundred years now; they couldn't say no... and yet, they had. It should have been impossible... but somehow, it obviously wasn't. He sighed, reaching out and taking her hand tightly in his. "So what do we do, Luce? We could try it anyway, but..."
Lucinda shook her head sadly, having already examined all of their options. "There's nothing we can do, love... without Archer, VanWey, and Rikk, we just don't have enough power. Even if we tried, it wouldn't work... Well, OK, maybe if we had some sort of a sacrifice, but that's the Svart way... we're Lios, we can't work like that..." She shuddered at the very thought before sighing deeply. "No, love, I'm afraid it's over. We can't help the Warrior, or Willow... we'll just have to hope that you can help Spike... maybe that will be enough." She sighed again, knowing that was just wishful thinking.
Cordelia wasn't sure whether she was understanding things correctly. It sounded like Matthias and his sister had been prepared to help Angel become, well... Angel again, and the very people whose help they needed wouldn't be a part of it. "Umm, sorry," she said from the kitchen doorway, so caught in her own thoughts that she didn't notice the surprised looks the two on the couch exchanged. "But if your... retainers?... if they won't help you, can't you find someone else? I mean, does it have to be them?" She walked slowly into the living room and perched herself on the arm of the couch next to Matthias. "There are a lot of witches in LA, plus demons and other assorted creepy crawlies, who owe Angel... can't we get them to help? I mean, we're talking about the kind of people who'd rather be owed than owing, here..." She fell silent for a moment, brow furrowed as she thought further. "If we could use them to make up for the missing power, wouldn't that help, at least a little?" She smiled slightly, hoping against hope as Matthias reached out with his free hand and gently squeezed her knee.
"It's a good thought, Cordy," he said sadly, hating to disappoint her, "But to make up the kind of power we're talking about, we'd need at least twenty of those witches and demons you're talking about... and it would still be difficult! Most of them don't know about our kind, and we can't actually tell them, not without putting them in danger. Plus!" he said intently, taking her hand in his, "The kind of ritual we're talking about here could be too easily turned to less benign purposes... they'd have to be people we knew and trusted, and I don't think that even you could be sure about that!" He smiled a bit, trying to show her that he appreciated the thought. "No, Luce is right... there's nothing we can do." He felt his shoulders sag as he thought about the young redhead and her two loves... she would be so disappointed.
Cordelia heard what he was saying, but she refused to believe it. If she had been a different sort of girl, she might well have admitted defeat, but... "No! There's got to be a way around this!" she exclaimed hotly, standing and beginning to pace. "I don't accept that! I can't! I mean, he's Angel! He's more than just a vampire with a soul, he's my friend! More like family, really! I've trusted him with my life, and he's never let me down, so I'm not gonna let him down!" She spun quickly, catching the astonished looks on both of their faces. "What? If I gave up that easily, I never would've been Queen of the Winter Ball, I never would have gotten skanky old Maude out of this apartment, and I'd have been dead like a thousand times by now! If there's one thing I learned growing up on the Hellmouth, it's that there's always a way... it may not always be pleasant, but... I say there's a way to make this work, and I am for damned sure gonna find it!" She resumed her pacing, still glaring at the sad couple on her couch. "Now, I suggest that you either stop with the whiney, poor me attitudes and start helping, or just get out! 'Cause I'm gonna find a way to help Angel!" She stopped and looked closely at them. "Well? Are you gonna help me, or are you leaving?" She smiled to herself as they settled back into the couch cushions. "Good." she said, stalking to the chair by the couch and sitting down. "Now, I need to know about this ritual of yours... what it does, what's involved, the way it actually works. Once we have that nailed down, we can start looking for other ways to do it... You know, ways that don't involve those lackeys of yours." She settled back, the thought suddenly occurring to her, "I also need to know the terms they were sworn to you under... and what exactly that means, sworn to you..." As Lucinda began to speak, Cordelia suddenly realized something that would have scared her, had she been less of a warrior herself... this was probably going to get her killed.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Willow had woken up hungry. And no wonder! When she actually thought about it, she realized that she hadn't eaten in almost three days! She had looked at the vampires sleeping to either side of her, and slowly and carefully began to slip from the bed. She had just about made it, too.
"Going somewhere, pet?" Spike murmured softly, not wanting to wake his Sire.
Willow jumped, and barely contained a squeak. "Spike!" she whispered to him, "Don't do that! And yes, I'm going to find something to eat, and a bathroom, if you must know, OK?" She smiled as her heart rate returned to normal... or at least, to as normal as it ever was around either of her lovers. Her smile softened a bit as he just nodded and rolled over, muttering 'Hurry back, then...' She slipped from the bed, grabbing Angelus' shirt to throw over herself, and quietly left the room.
Angelus woke from a deep sleep. Something was missing, he knew it before he even opened his eyes. (She's gone!) he thought, angry for a moment. (I fell asleep, and she left me! Again!) He growled and glanced quickly around the room. (At least she didn't run off to Spike this time,) he thought, a slight smile twitch at the corners of his mouth as he gazed admiringly at the pale, lanky form of his childe. He slowly slipped from the bed aand pulled on his pants before going in search of his witch. He found her in the sitting room where he had spent so much of the previous evening with an entirely different redhead. "Willow?" he said softly. "I woke up, and you were gone. Is that something you're planning on making a habit of?" He spoke silkily, approaching her slowly. He let her see both the pain and the sorrow in his eyes as he continued, "Because I can tell you right now that I don't enjoy it... falling asleep with you in my arms is just perfect, but waking up without you... No, I don't like it!... hate it, in fact." He stopped in front of her and wrapped her in his arms, pressing her tightly to his hard chest. "Ah," he sighed happily, "This is where you belong..."
Willow smiled gently against his cool skin. "You're right, Angelus... but I was hungry. I would have been back a long time ago, but I've been all over this place, and I can't find the kitchen! And," she said, trying to make up for leaving him, "I was gonna bring you and Spike some breakfast, too!" She pulled away from him slightly, looking up into his eyes. "I was thinking that breakfast in bed could be fun..." she said, soft and wicked, as she slid her hands to the back of his neck and pulled his mouth down to hers. After a few very enjoyable minutes, she pulled back, looking at him curiously.
"What is it, my love? What has you looking so confused?" Angelus asked gently, tracing her lips with a fingertip while his other hand rubbed smooth circles on her back through the silk of the shirt she was wearing. He almost growled in protest when she stepped away from him, abandoning his embrace. (No... she can't be regretting last night... she just can't!) He immediately began cursing himself for a fool as she pulled him to the nearest couch and pressed him into sitting. (Hell, this is where she tells me it was all a big mistake...) he shook his head despairingly, (And I don't want to hear it!) It took him a moment to realize she was already speaking.
Willow had been puzzled since sometime the night before. She didn't understand exactly what was going on. First, when he'd been Angel, he'd been... sweet, and attentive, and concerned for her, and then, when Angelus had come out to play, he'd been... mean... self-absorbed... oblivious to her feelings. Of course, she wasn't surprised that Angelus was acting that way, after all, he was a demon! But now... "What's going on here, Angelus? You're acting more... Angel-y than what I know is normal for you. I mean, before... in LA... you were all 'You're mine, blah, blah, blah'... and now, you're all... well not nice, exactly, but more... good than you were. So what's going on? Is this some new game you're playing with me, 'cause if it is, I'm really gonna be pissed!" She was completely thrown for a major loop when he stared at her for a moment and burst out in delighted laughter.
"Oh, Willow!" he said haltingly as his laughs died down, "Is that all? You wanted to know why... OK..." He spent a moment collecting himself as he took her tiny little hand in his much larger one. "It's kind of hard to explain, and you have to remember that what I'm telling you may not be completely correct... I mean, it was so long ago, and I'm not sure if I remember it all properly..." He grinned at her impatient expression. "All right, love, it's like this... Did Luce tell you much about her people?" He waited for her nod before continuing. "So, you know they're all about balance... well, this is Luce's place, so anyone who stays here for more than a little while..." He saw the belated understanding blossom in her eyes.
"Becomes balanced..." Willow sighed wonderingly, finally comprehending his behaviour. "So the way you are now..."
He nodded, smiling slightly. "Is the way I would be if I were in balance... not the broody, sad, longing for redemption Soulboy, not the angry, hate-filled, wanting to destroy everything demon..." He sighed, pulling her to him, relishing the feeling of this small redhaired witch pressed against him. "Actually, this is probably as close as you'll ever get to knowing what I was like as a human... I wasn't any great treat, I can tell you that much... but I wasn't all bad, either..." He smiled in recollection. "At least not until I ran into a lovely blonde in a dark alley... You'd think that would have taught me to stay away from the blondes..." he mused, mostly to himself, "But I was still angry with Lucera, and Darla was so... not like her..." He was so lost in thought that he didn't even realize that he was still speaking out loud until he felt the slight form in his arms pull back.
"Wait," Willow said softly. "Lucera? Who's Lucera? 'Cause I've read the watcher diaries about you, and I didn't see anything about a Lucera, unless..." Her mind began whirring at close to a million rpms as she quickly assembled a wide variety of things that hadn't seemed related at the time... the way she had looked at him, and he had looked back... the way they spoke, the things she had known about him... "It's Luce, isn't it? You knew her when you were human... that's why you... Angel... whatever... took me to the club! You, both of you!... wanted to see her again! Gods! Did he... you... even want me to begin with? Was I just a surrogate? Any redhead in a storm? Gods, I am such an idiot! Why would you love me, want me?" She jumped away from him, wanting to run fast and far, anything to get away from him, from the feeling of her heart slowly breaking. "And I believed you! I fell for it! Asshole!" Her gaze darted everywhere, looking for an escape and not finding one. She grabbed up the crystal vase from the table and hurled it at him before falling in a heap on the floor, sobs overtaking her.
Angelus had been stunned by everything his sweet love had just said. He hadn't had any idea of how to react. He sat there, frozen by her accusations, until the sight of the heavy crystal vase flying right at his head finally shook him from his daze. "No," he cried, jumping up from the couch just in time to avoid vase to the head, "It isn't like that, Will!" He ran to her crumpled form, dropping down beside her. "Willow... love... shhh..." he whispered to her, wrapping his arms tightly around her, rocking her gently. "I... he... didn't even know her when he saw her in the bar... it's just..." he sighed, not sure of how to explain it without sounding like a fucking prick. "When the Rom cursed me, gave me the soul... I kept certain memories for myself... my demon self, I mean... and Luce... Luce was one of them. When he loved you, wanted you, it was completely about you... I mean, think about it, my love," he murmured softly, raising her head and wiping at her tears with his thumb, "It was you that made me lose the soul... not Lucinda, you. Now would that have happened if you weren't the one we wanted?" He smiled as her eyes began to clear, and leaned closer to softly brush her lips with his. "You see, Willow? It was you... always you! Even the soul knows it!" He grinned at the questioning look in her eyes. "You never knew that, did you? That you were the reason we left Sunnyhell? We loved you so much, wanted you so badly... I would have just taken you, loved you, and never let you go... but he had other ideas, thought we'd be bad for you, and since he was in control at the time... we left. But we thought about you every day... alone in that big bed, with all those hours of daylight to fill... oh, yes, you were always in our mind... in our heart..." He tilted his head down, kissing her again. "It almost killed us at the club that night, when you said you didn't want to see us... I wanted to just throw you over my shoulder and carry you off, but of course he wouldn't let me... But I loved you first... me, the demon... the soul came around eventually, once he took a really close look at who you are, your heart, he came around... but I loved you first! So, in a way," he chuckled into her wide-eyed stare, "You've always been mine... you see?" He clutched her tiny body even more tightly to him, "I'm never going to let you go, my love... whatever it takes to make you happy, and keep you that way, I'll do it... I'm so lost without you..." He buried his face in her soft crimson hair, just breathing in the scent of her. She was his heart... he really was lost without her.
Spike turned away from the doorway, having heard the whole thing. He'd woken again when Angelus had left their bed, and followed his Sire as far as the doorway to the sitting room. He'd been surprised by what had happened, what had been said... and now, as he slowly re-traced his steps to the bedroom the three of them had shared the night before, he couldn't help but wonder... was there still any room left in their hearts for dear old Spike? Because, he decided, if there wasn't, then he had a sunrise to meet... He pulled off his pants and laid back down, burying his head in the pillows and breathing in the smells of the two people that mattered the most to him in the world.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Mykl had been having a grand old time in the bar with Ripper. The Englishman and he had caught up on the happenings in London two decades earlier, and had moved on to discussing what had happened in the mortal's life since then, and Mykl found himself not only pleased by what the man had accomplished, but impressed by the fact that Ripper was even still alive. They had talked extensively about the Hellmouth, with Mykl able to provide certain information that the Council would have died to possess, had they known that such information even existed. Of course, having seen a good number of Hellmouths in the last four hundred years of his life, Mykl had been able to compare and extrapolate particular things that only someone with his kind of lifespan would have noticed. It was just a damned shame that Ripper had no intention of ever returning there... although with what he'd said about the current Slayer... or one of the current Slayer-s, Mykl couldn't really blame him... But, two Slayers... he wasn't sure of how he felt about that... such a thing wasn't supposed to happen... And for one of them to be evil, and the other to be a... well, whatever it was that this 'Buffy' girl was... He looked down at his pocket as he felt the vibration begin there. Noting the message on the small screen, he silently thanked Cordelia again, this time for showing him how to set the pager to vibrate... He stood, tossing back the remainder of his beer. "Come on, Ripper," he said flatly to the former watcher, "We're needed back at the Seer's."
Giles starred at his companion, perplexed for a moment before realizing that the... man... had doubtless been contacted by some unknown means. He stood and followed Mykl out of the bar and into the night, wondering just what had gone wrong now.
~Part: 46~
Spike stiffled a groan and tried to put a neutral expression on his face as he heard the barely perceptible brush of their feet in the corridor outside the room. They were coming back... probably to tell him that there was no longer any room for him in their happy little 'family', and he had decided that he would never let them know how much that hurt him. No one would ever know. He'd take it like a man, he would, and bide his time until they were back in L.A.... He thought that it was somehow appropriate that L.A. was the land of sunshine, since that was exactly what he'd go looking for as soon as he had the chance. He'd had one night of pure bliss with the two beings that comprised his heart, and he knew, somehow, that he would never be able to let go of the memory and move on. No, he'd be better off dead for good than lurking in the shadows pining away for what he'd never have again. He slapped a placid expression on his face and pretended to be sleeping as he heard the door open, and felt the two bodies, one warm, one cool as his own, slip into the bed and settle to either side of him. He might as well enjoy it while it lasted, he thought, feeling their hands clasping across his smooth chest.
Willow stared at her dark haired lover across the pale form laying between them, thinking about what a lovely contrast they made. She had no idea of what she'd done to deserve having the two of them in her life... in her bed... but she was determined not to let anything come between them. She curled herself close in to Spike, her fingers twined with Angelus' across the blond's surprisingly soft skin. She knew that Spike was awake. She wasn't sure of how she knew, but she did. Just as she knew that something was bothering him... and she was going to find out what. She sighed, seeing that same knowledge in Angelus' eyes. "Spike," she murmured softly, rubbing her cheek gently against the soft skin of his shoulder, "Honey, what's wrong? Are you OK?" "Spike!" she said, a bit louder, "I know you're awake... we both do. I thought we all agreed 'No secrets'?" She softly licked his collarbone, feeling him jump a bit as Angelus did the same on his other side. "So talk to us, love... what's wrong?" She gasped, and almost cried out when his eyes finally opened and she saw the pain and fear in them.
Spike tried. He really did. But what with her looking at him that way, seeing the worry in her eyes, he just couldn't do it. He couldn't just lay there and lie to her, tell her that everything was all right when it really wasn't. He almost wanted to cry, as he felt her arms go around him, her warm little hands pressing his cool flesh to her. He almost did cry, feeling his Sire's strong arms wrapping around them both from behind him. He sighed deeply into her crimson hair, cherishing the smell of her. "It's just... you're going to leave me... the both of you..." He took another shaky breath as they started to murmur their denials. "Yes... yes, you are..." He pulled away from them both, sitting up and hugging his knees to his chest. He thought for a moment, wanting them to understand what was so very clear to him. "You two... you belong together. You're... right together. You," he said softly, glancing at Willow, "came here for him... oh, maybe you didn't know it, but that doesn't change anything. You came here for him, and now... you've got him. And you," he said, a touch more stridiently, looking to his Sire, "you always wanted her... even with the soul, she was it for you. And that's just as it should be... you're good together, the two of you." He sighed, resting his forehead on his knees. "So where does that leave me? I'm the 'friend', the 'favourite childe', the bloody third wheel!" he sneered. "You're gonna get tired of me always being around, and then one day, BAM! You'll be gone. Run off to... somewhere together, leaving poor old Spike to fend for himself! And..." he pressed his eyes into his sheet-covered knees, "I don't think I could bloody well take it! It's got to stop! And if you two won't end it, then I will." He unclenched his arms from around his knees and slipped down to the end of the bed, preparing to leave them to each other. Fortunately, he didn't get far.
"No." Angelus said flatly, grabbing his childe by the shoulders and pulling him back up the bed. "No, Spike. That's not going to happen." He pushed the blond down flat, running his fingers lightly over the slightly tear-stained face. "I have missed you too much all these years. Do you really think that now that I finally have you back where you belong, I'm going to just let you go?" He sighed, leaning down to brush a soft kiss across his childe's trembling lips. "Never gonna happen, my boy... never! I need you... we need you. You're a part of us now... and there's nothing that you can say or do that's ever going to change that, so you might as well get used to us..." He leaned in to his childe again, his large fingers threading through the short blond hair, his thumb rubbing gently back and forth along one beautiful cheekbone. "We love you, Spike... we're not going anywhere." Angelus smiled, pulling back slightly as their redheaded witch moved in closer to them both.
"That's right, love," she said, lightly trailing her fingers up the side of his ribs. "We're not going anywhere, and neither are you... Oh, you can try, but believe me when I say... anywhere you go, we'll find you... no matter how long it takes. You're ours, just as much as we're yours." She grinned down into his eyes, laying her hand flat against his chest, directly above the spot where his heart had once beat. "We're never gonna let you go, so you might as well just accept it..." She cut off his attempts at speech, lowering her mouth closer to his. "Just as we accept you," she murmured softly against his cool lips, slipping her tongue between them, and drawing him into a gentle, yet searing, kiss.
He was drowning in them. Their hands, their lips, the feel of their skin against his... drowning. And loving every minute of it. Words were easy, he knew, but... he gasped. Their mouths on his chest... fingers in his hair... hands everywhere. No, he knew now that he'd never give them up... he'd been a fool, trying to leave them for fear that they'd leave him. Never again, he vowed silently, never again. He growled, his true face emerging as he felt the warm and cool hands rubbing him through the sheet, and growled again when his little witch raised her head from his chest and ran her tongue softly up his chin to the ridges on his forehead while his Sire nipped gently at the skin around his navel. Yes, he had been a fool... but that was over now.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Mykl stared fixedly at the floor of the Seer's living room. He wished that he knew what to say to Luce and Matthias, but he really didn't. "I don't know, Luce," he said softly, almost wishing that the floor would open up and swallow him. "I don't have any idea of how they could just refuse... I mean, they're bound and sworn! It should only be possible if they were ordered to refuse you... and even then, it would have to be by someone who out-ranks you..." He filed that thought away for later consideration. "And I can't think of anyone off-hand who would want to stop us from re-gaining the Warrior." He looked up, sighing. "Have you tried asking the cousins? Maybe they..." he broke off, grinning sheepishly as surprisingly similar snorts of amusement came from both Lucinda and the Seer.
"Oh, yeah," sniped Cordelia, "Because they've been so much help up 'til now!" She rolled her eyes and went into the kitchen, returning shortly with the coffeepot. "OK," she said, as she wandered around the room re-filling mugs, "So, we don't know how or why they turned you down... could whatever it is that binds them to you have worn off, maybe? No." She answered herself before anyone else could. "If it wore off, Mykl wouldn't be here, and he is. Huh. Alright, that particular question aside, what do we know so far?" She glanced around the room, her eyes fixing on Matthias for just a moment before she tore them away. "Your retainers aren't going to help us, so we don't have enough power. We have a whole slew of demons and witches we could use, but they can't know about your people, or the ritual we'd need to use, but if we don't do it, Angelus stays, and Angel's gone forever... Does that about sum it up? 'Cause unless I'm missing something, we are, like, Royally screwed..." She sighed, collapsing onto the edge of her coffee table. "I was so sure that we could find a way around this!" She hung her head, not wanting to admit defeat, and sighed again. "It's too bad we can't just use the energy from all the people who owe Angel... without telling them why, I mean..." She straightened, suddenly excited. "But why can't we? No," she denied, seeing the horrified looks from the three non-humans, "Not in a bad way, but... what if we told them that Angel needed their help but we can't say why? Just have them be ready to throw power at us?" She jumped up and began pacing, her mind whirring. "Yeah... I mean," she looked searchingly at Lucinda, "from what you told me about this 'ritual', they wouldn't even have to know what we were doing! As long as they were willing, it wouldn't matter if they knew the purpose! We could... we could link them, somehow, and one of you could direct the energy! Or," she said sheepishly, seeing their stunned expressions, "Am I being stupid? It could work... couldn't it?... could it?" She sat back down as Matthias, Lucinda, and Mykl suddenly rose and went into the kitchen. "Well," she said, looking at Giles, "I don't know whether to feel relieved or scared that they need to talk in private..."
"Y-yes... quite so..." the watcher responded, slowly sipping his coffee as he tried valiantly to overhear the conversation occurring in the other room. Unfortunately, he could only catch the occasional word, and somehow, the few that he caught were not at all comforting. (Sacrifice? I thought they said they couldn't...) He interrupted his own thought as the three slowly re-entered the room. From the expressions on their faces, it didn't look good.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Willow smiled tiredly at her two vampires. It had taken a bit of doing, but she and Angelus had finally convinced Spike that he was as much a part of them as they were of each other, although she was fairly certain that a lot of his hesitation had been a show. She didn't mind, though... he could play as much as he wanted, as far as she was concerned, as long as it always turned out the way that this time had, with the three of them all sore and sticky, and thoroughly sated in each other's arms. She moaned happily, wrapping her arms more firmly around her vampires. "This is nice," she said softly, chuckling at their sounds of agreement, "And I hate to get all serious, but I've been thinking..."
Spiked smiled acroos her body at his Sire. "She's always thinking, mate... have to see what we can do about that." He smirked a little as Angelus' hand joined his in roaming the tight young body of their witch.
"No... guys!" Willow squeaked, "This is important!... Please?" She relaxed back against the pillows, caught between being glad that they were going to listen to her, and sorry that they'd stopped touching her so teasingly. "OK, this is mostly about you, Angelus... what you said before, about you being 'balanced' because we're at Luce's..." She swallowed as he nodded, almost afraid to go on. "Well... what happens when we leave here? Are... are you gonna get all... you know... mean again?"
If he could have paled, he would have. He couldn't believe that he hadn't even thought about that, but... Willow was right. They couldn't stay here forever, and as much as he wanted to believe otherwise, he didn't think that he would be able to share her, even with his childe, once he left the influence of this dimension. He closed his eyes, and he could just see it. They would leave, and once the balancing wore off, he'd be back to his old self again in no time. And then he would... hurt her... and probably kill Spike for having the nerve to touch what Angelus thought of as his! "I..." he began, feeling her eyes on him, "I wish I could say 'No'... that I wouldn't, but... Yeah," he said sadly, opening his eyes to meet her strangely calm stare. "Yeah," he said again, moving away from her to the edge of the bed, "I probably will... this... balancing thing, it kind of... equalizes the pressure? Something like that, anyway... between the soul and me, and without it... Yeah." He pulled his eyes away from her and stared blindly at the ceiling. "Yeah, I'm gonna go back to being the fucking prick. I'll chase you, and scare you, and when that doesn't work, I'll probably torture you until you say you love me..." He sighed, squeezing his eyes shut. "You should just leave me now... get a good head start." He clenched his fist in the sheets beside him, refusing to let himself cry. It had been too good... too good to last, anyway, and he would miss them both like Hell... until he caught up with them and made it too bad to ever end... after all, that was what he was good at. He felt them both get up from the bed, and steeled himself to missing them, only to open his eyes wide in astonishment as he felt them settle down again beside him, his witch on the bed, his childe kneeling on the floor, his elbows resting against Angelus' side.
"No, Sire," Spike said, gently untangling the large fingers from the sheet. "We're not going anywhere."
"Angelus... I, uh... I wanted to tell you this before, but I didn't know how you'd react, so... don't be mad?" Willow mumbled, taking his other hand in hers. "Umm... Luce said that she could... fix you... Wait!" she yelped as he began to struggle up from the bed. "Not like... make you all soul-y again, but... kind of... make you like this..." She relaxed a little as he stopped struggling so much and just looked at her, confused but willing to listen. "She said that it was about balance, so I'm assuming that it'll... balance you... permanently. I mean, she really didn't explain it to me, but... that's what it sounded like... and if you don't want to do it, I won't help her, I mean, she said she'd need me in order to make it work, but... if you really don't want it, I won'tdo it! I just thought that you should know that you umpph!" Her string of babble was cut off by Angelus' cool lips on hers, pressing her to him with an almost frightening intensity.
Pulling away, he gazed deeply into her beautiful green eyes. "You would really do that, wouldn't you, my love? Leave yourself open to all the torment I would inflict on you... Why?" he said wonderingly, "Why would you do that? Why risk yourself so much for me... a demon?"
Spike grinned, kissing the large hand he still held in his own. "Because she loves you, oh Mighty Poof! We both do... but if the only way to keep you like this," he said, eyes gesturing to him in his current totallity, "Is by doing it against your will, she won't do it! Now me, I'd do it in a heartbeat, but... well, I'm not our Red, am I?" He stopped whatever words his poof of a Sire had been about to say, taking his lips in a hard kiss. "So," he said, pulling back and grinning at the low growl coming from the dark haired vampire. "Do we do it?" He laughed aloud as he was pulled onto the bed and on top of Angelus. "The ritual, you great bloody insatiable oaf! The ritual!"
Angelus smiled, finally feeling at peace, his witch pressed alongside his body, his childe stretched out on top of him... how could he ever give them up? "Yes," he moaned, feeling their hands and lips on his skin, "We do the ritual... of course we do it... duh..."
And no more words that were recognizable as such were spoken in that room for quite some time.
~Part: 47~
Cordelia and Giles stared at the three people sitting on the couch, waiting for them to explain what had been decided in the kitchen. Unfortunately, they all seemed rather reluctant to break the silence. "Sooo..." Cordelia finally said after a few minutes, "What's the sitch?... The situation," she clarified, "What is it? Will the linking thing work, or are we at another dead end?" She smiled slightly at Matthias as he got up and came to sit beside her.
"Yes and no, Cordy," he said, taking her hand in his. "The idea itself holds a great deal of merit..." He sighed, giving her hand a squeeze.
"But?" she said, trying not to be distacted by his warm flesh touching hers.
"But... it's not that simple. If the sources of power don't know what we're doing, they can't focus their energies adequately, so we'd need more of them... plus, since they're not linked to the fight themselves, we're not sure whether their power will even be pure enough... That's not to say that it can't be done, though," he said quickly, hating the disappointment in her eyes. Damn, he knew that the girl had been trying... he had to hold out some hope at least... "It can be done, it'll just require a..." he trailed off, not sure of how to say it without scaring her.
"Sacrifice," Giles finished for him, "It will require some sort of a sacrifice, and your people can't do those, am I right?" He watched as the seemingly-young man nodded slowly. "A sacrifice of what sort? And... how? I mean, how can you do that if it's forbidden to your people?"
Matthias glanced at Lucinda and Mykl who were both remaining stubbornly, and uncharacteristically, silent. He sighed, not really wanting to say it out loud, but having no choice. "It's a question of balance, Ripper. The other side routinely uses sacrificial subjects to raise power, which is exactly why we don't. But sometimes, if a situation is dire enough, we can... manipulate our own natures enough to... do what is necessary. Of course, in our case, death doesn't result. We can't... kill for power." He sighed, seeing the confusion on the watcher's face. "All right, I'm not explaining this properly. Umm... you know that blood is very powerful, and spilled blood even more so... we'll try to use blood to draw more power to the ritual. It's a blood sacrifice, not a death sacrifice. Blood will be willingly given to increase our power."
Giles thought about that for a moment. "So what you're saying is that one of us will have to voluntarily bleed themselves in an attempt to ensure our success?" He returned to his thoughts after seeing Matthias' nod. "So..." he finally said, curious, "How much blood will it take, and is it likely to work?"
Matthias sighed deeply. Still more questions he didn't want to answer. "A lot... and yes, it'll probably work. I mean, there are no guarantees, but... the few times it's been done, it's never failed..."
Cordelia had been following the question and answer session with great interest, and she was pretty sure that she understood what they were saying. "So the only thing left to do is to decide which one of us gets to do the bleeding... Well, that and contact all the folks we need and convince them to let us bind their power to an unspecified purpose... Piece of cake..."
Matthias smiled slightly, rubbing his thumb softly across the back of her hand. "You just worry about the second part of that, Cordy... the bleeder has already been chosen." He kept his eyes on her hand, watching as her fingers twitched.
"Who?" she demanded, knowing she wouldn't like his answer.
"I think you know that already, Seer... It has to be me. Just wait a minute," he said softly, turning to her and catching her eyes with his. "There's no other choice. The sacrifice has to have some sort of a connection to the subject of the ritual, and I do, by virtue of being half human... also, there's they fact that I'm... related to Luce, and she has a connection to him as well. Neither one of you can do it, the blood loss alone would probably kill you, not to mention the pain... No, Cordelia," he said sadly, shaking his head, "There really is no other choice... I'm all we've got."
Giles looked at the young couple and felt nothing but pity for them. Matthias would probably be OK, he knew, but still... if the boy was half human, that was nowhere near as certain as he'd tried to make it sound. He looked across the room. Catching the sorrowful eyes of the lad's sister, he gestured towards the front door with his head, standing when she nodded and got up, pulling Mykl with her. Silently they crept out into the hallway, closing the door quietly behind them. "Well," Giles said softly, glancing back and forth between them, "Once again, I believe that I could use a drink... a stiff one." He turned at their nods of agreement and proceeded down the stairs and out of the building, heading once more to the bar that he and Mykl had left just two hours earlier. It felt like a lifetime ago.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Willow lay back and watched her two lovers, glad to see that she had been correct... they were beautiful together. They complemented each other perfectly. She groaned, completely arroused just from watching them take each other. Right now, she was watching Angelus drive himself slowly into Spike's bautiful pale ass, and she was almost completely incapable of any thought other than the one running through her head: that she should be over there, between them, being filled in a way she had never even imagned existed. She ran her hands over her breasts, pinching at her already hard nipples. Gods, she wanted them... her hands slipped lower as she watched Angelus speed up his thrusts, driving himself faster, and harder, and deeper into his childe's willing ass. She groaned with Spike as his Sire reached around him and began stroking his hard cock. She moaned with Angelus, two of her fingers buried deep inside herself, when his favourite childe squeezed him with his strong muscles, and she came with both of them, her fingers twisting her clit, as they burst in concert. She lay back on the bed, panting out the last of her orgasm, as she watched her dark haired lover slowly pull himself from her blond's thoroughly fucked hole, moving closer when they each held out a hand to her. "I was right," she murmured, carressing Spike's chest as she licked Angelus' tight male nipple. "You are beautiful..." She felt herself growing wetter still as Spike slipped first one, then another, long, pale finger deep within her. She groaned out her pleasure, feeling Angelus' cool wet mouth on her swollen clit. Gods, she thought, this is purely sinful. Her next moan was swallowed by Spike's mouth as his lips moved over hers, his tongue diving into her mouth, dancing with hers. He gently took her hand and placed it on his almost fully erect penis, loosing a moan of his own as she began to torturously stroke him, gently scraping her nails over the seeping head. She screamed into his mouth when Angelus' talented tongue and Spike's fingers tormented her into another orgasm, laying stunned for a moment, until the sensation of Spike thrusting his hard shaft lightly into her hand brought her rushing back to life. She reached out her other hand, taking her other lover's equally hard member into it and stroking him as well, her fingers wrapped lightly around him. She sighed almost languidly, looking at them. "I want you, " she murmured softly, her excitement clear in her voice, "I want you both... inside me..." She chuckled, low and sleek, as she felt both their cocks jump in her hands. "Please..." she begged softly, "please..." She smiled lovingly, the desire visible in her every movement, thanking the gods as they agreed without a word. She almost shrieked with delight as Angelus rolled onto his back, pulling her firmly on top of him.
He pulled her legs to either side of him, feeling the wetness dripping from her core as he raised her up and gently lowered her onto his throbbing shaft. He held her still for a moment, just relishing the feel of her on top of him, surrounding him, almost laughing when she impatiently began to rock back and forth against him... Damn, but she was tight... He watched his childe over her shoulder, knowing that this was going to hurt their little witch, at least at first. He hoped that Spike would be gentle with her, knowing that she'd never participated in this particular act before. Angelus smiled slightly, seeing the understanding in his childe's eyes. He would at least try to go easy on her, this first time.
Spike watched, entranced, as his Sire impaled the tiny redhead on his huge cock, smiling at the soft moans she was making. He couldn't believe that Angelus was going to have her like this first. But, hell, she was beautiful, he thought, watching her lithe little body sliding up and down on the enormous member. He slipped up close behind her, grinning a bit wickedly as his Sire spread his legs to give him some room. Wrapping his arme around his Red from behind, he cupped her breasts, whispering in her ear, "Are you sure, pet... it'll probably hurt a bit right at first..." He smiled a bit more broadly in surprise at her answer, running a hand down her back. What the hell did she mean by 'What doesn't?' He banished the thought from his mind and slipped his hand between her legs, catching her juices on his fingers. Slowly, he pulled his hand back, trailing his fingers along her warm crack, and gently slipping one wet finger into her tight ass. He slowly thrust it in and out, waiting, and when her initial sounds of discomfort gave way to pleasured moans, added another... and another. When he was finally sure that she was certain, and wouldn't change her mind, he again slid his hand forward, catching more of her slick juices in his questing hand, rubbing her wetness over his throbbing shaft. Slowly, ever so slowly, he spread her cheeks and placed himself firmly at her tightly puckered opening. "Relax, love," he murmured gently into her ear as he began to move forward. He heard her hiss and began to retreat from her, stopping when he felt her reach behind her, her hand resting on one pale firm globe of his ass. She hissed 'Please', and he returned to her, once again pressing himself to her, his cock throbbing madly as he slowly worked the head against her tightness. He hissed, thrusting forward, as she dug her nails into his flesh, urging him on, and suddenly, oh, hell, he was in... he was in. He almost cried, feeling her surrounding him. It was amazing... almost too much... he remained motionless for a moment, not wanting to hurt her any more than his entry already had, but she began to thrust herself back on him, and he was powerless to stop himself, or her. He closed his eyes, resting his head against the back of her neck, the quick, un-needed breaths coming from him in pants, trying to think about something, anything, other than the feel of her around him, the sensation of his Sire's cock rubbing against his through her, as they moved together within their sweet young witch... he didn't want this to end... he never wanted this to end.
Willow had thought that she was going to die when he pulled away from her... she wanted him... needed him inside her... nedded to feel how well they fit together, the three of them... and so she begged "Please..." she cried to him, glad that he didn't refuse her. She could feel him pressed against her, but he was taking too long... she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and sank her nails into him. She would have cried out when he was finally buried deep inside her, but she didn't want him to stop. She held still for a moment, frozen with the pain, and then slowly began to rock back against him. She could feel everything, now... this was perfect, she decided, as the pain receded, making way for pleasures she had never experienced before... this was right... She loved the feeling of Angelus stretching her, Spike filling her... she could feel their cocks rubbing against each other inside her... Yes, this was perfect. She moaned, feeling a tightening in the pit of her stomach, she was so close... She looked down at her dark haired lover, watching as his eyes widened with the approach of his release. She could feel Spike's thrusts becoming quicker and deeper, and knew that he would be there soon, as well... "Angelus," she moaned, pulling his arm to make him sit up. She smiled into his eyes as he raised himself, sitting beneath her, his arms going around her as he continued to thrust himself up into her. "Drink me, loves..." she murmured to both of them, suddenly wanting that penetration, too. She shuddered in pure orgasmic pleasure as they both allowed their true faces to emerge, and gently slid thie sharp teeth into her skin. She cried out loudly, bucking against them both, feeling them fill her with their soothingly cool seed. They remained as they were for a time, Angelus and Spike gently lapping at the slowly seeping marks they'd made on their witch. Willow smiled and tried to swallow a yawn. She didn't want to let them go, didn't want to stop feeling like a part of them. She looked into Angelus' eyes, seeing the understanding there as he slowly, carefully, turned them all and somehow managed to rest them on their sides without once breaking their connection. "Love you, guys," she mumbled, as she slipped into a deep sleep, still completely filled by her two lovers, smiling slightly as she heard the softly murmured 'Love you, pet...' and 'You, too...' from the equally exhausted vampires inside her.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
< meanwhile, back in Sunnydale >
Rocko had been worried at first when he realized that his little Sunshine knew that she was really the Slayer. He wasn't sure of exactly how long she'd been aware of that fact, and quite frankly, he didn't want to suddenly be dead. Not dead like he already was, but dead like 'a big pile of dust'. So when she'd asked him to call her Buffy, he'd frozen up for just a moment. But then, then he realized something. She was on his lap. Her arms were around his neck. Her hot little tongue was delving into his ear. And there was not a stake in sight. So he had done the only thing he could do... he'd stood up, the girl's legs wrapped firmly around his waist, and took her back to bed. If anyone had ever told him that having sex with a Slayer would ruin him for all other encounters for the rest of his very long existence, he would have ripped their heads off for the insult, and yet... it was true. He had thought that she was fun when she was being 'Sunshine', but apparently she'd been holding herself back, not using all of the strength she really had, because as soon as they got down to it once she came 'clean' about her little deception, she had completely blown him away! He wasn't sure of exactly how he was going to manage it, but he wasn't going to let this girl get away... especially now that he didn't have to share her with Martin anymore. No, Martin was gone, taking one or two of the most moronic of the minions with him, and Rocko was glad... his girl was a sweet little slut, and he had decided that he would only share her with the minions who earned that reward. The rest of the time, she would be all his... He looked down at the blonde sleeping in his arms, his smile becoming one of anticipation as he felt her hot hands grasping his half-rigid cock. "Find something you like, Buffy?" he asked smoothly as she began stroking him slowly and firmly, working him quickly to the point of throbbing. He grinned around his gasp as he felt her hot wet mouth speedily travelling down his cold body until she abruptly took his huge cock deep into her throat. He moaned as she began sliding her mouth up and down, up and down, scraping him lightly with her teeth, one hand lightly cupping and kneading his heavy balls, while prodding almost roughly at his tight asshole with the fingers of the other. Damn, she was perfect for him! His hands flew to her head as two of her slim fingers suddenly entered him, and he felt his large sac draw up tight. He slammed her down hard on his aching cock repeatedly, until he finally exploded deep in the back of her throat. He grinned at the little gurgling noise she made as she swallowed his offering, and pulled her up, kissing her deeply. "Oh, Buff... you're just..."
Buffy cut off her vampire lover with a look. "Rocko?" she asked, licking her lips, "Where's Martin? Did he go away?" She glanced away from him beforecontinuing. "I mean, it's not that I don't enjoy our little private sessions, because I do... but it's just not enough... I need more, and Martin... well, he does have a really enormous cock, so... Where is he?" she said, letting a bit of a begging note enter her voice.
Rocko felt his heart plummet. He wasn't enough for her? Oh, well. "Martin's gone, Buff... he was too afraid of what you'd do if you ever remembered who you were, so he left... but don't be sad, baby," he said, seeing her face fall, "I'm sure that at least a few of the other minions have great big throbbing cocks that they'd just love to slip into you. Would you like that, baby? Your own stable of vampire studs? You can have it, you know... you be good to me, and I'll treat you like a Queen, Buffy..."
The slutty little blonde just looked at him for a minute, the long un-used gears of her mind slowly turning. "OK, Rocko... who do I have to kill?" she asked with a smile, as she grabbed his once again hard cock in her hand.
Rocko groaned, rolling her beneath him. "I'll make you a list, baby," he groaned as he thrust hard into her cavernous cunt.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
< meanwhile, across town at Willie's Bar >
Artera watched, amused, as yet another demon came out of the back room fastening his pants. The demon, this one a Farezli, approached the slimy little bartender, handing him a twenty dollar bill. "You were right, Willie," the big greenish demon rasped, "Definitely worth the money." He grinned, his orange teeth dripping slime. "I don't think he's quite so lonely anymore, though..." His laughter grated out, startling the human who had never heard one of his kind laugh before.
"Yeah, well, anytime ya wanna go again, ya know where he is!" Willie looked down at the clipboard by his hand, crossing the last demon off the list. "OK," he called out loudly, "Trumbat, the Zorelse! Yer next fer our friend Agent Lilac!" He grinned as a huge lumbering yellow leathery looking demon rose from a table by the front door, noticing the enormous bulge in the demon's pants. (Ouch,) he thought, watching the demon cross the bar and enter the back room, (That's gonna hurt!) He took the twenty dollar bill that the Farezli demon had given him and put it in the large jar behing the bar. (Damn,) he thought, surprised, (Must be at least three hundred bucks in there! Not bad for one day, though...) He grinned, hearing the whimper, equal parts pain and pleasure, that sounded through the closed door of the back room.
~Part: 48~
Matthias lifted his eyes slowly from the floor, his fingers still entwined with those of the Seer. "So..." he said hesitantly, almost afraid of what he thought he saw in her eyes, "What now?" He smiled slightly as she began to fidget... again.
"I don't know, I guess we can start calling around?" Cordelia said uncertainly, wanting nothing more than to just... kiss him. He was so... she didn't know. She wasn't sure of exactly what it was about him, but something within him called out to something inside her... and if she was going to be honest with herself, she had been feeling some sort of a connection to him from the very first time they'd met... back when she'd first been told that he was Luce's brother. Not that she believed that anymore. She'd had ample opportunity to watch the two of them together, and she didn't care how different their people were, no brother and sister could ever get on that well... but she was sure that they were related, and that Lucinda liked her, so... whatever. Besides, if Matthias was half human, then at the most, they'd be half-siblings... and maybe that explained it... She didn't think so, but it was possible. She had been trying to keep her mind on the problems with the ritual, but as soon as Luce, Mykl and Giles had gone out, leaving the two of them alone in her apartment, her thoughts had repeatedly turned to the beautiful half-mortal man beside her, and the things that she'd like to be doing with him. After all, she reasoned, he was about to take a very big risk, and all for Angel... she would never forgive herself if something happened to Matthias before they had the chance to find out if there was something there... besides the physical attraction. (No, Cordy,) she told herself sternly, (Don't just sit back and wait! Somebody has to make a move here, and if he won't do it, you're gonna have to!) She sighed and tightened her fingers around his. "Never mind. I'll call everyone later." She glanced down at the floor, not exactly sure of what to say. She was Cordelia Chase, after all... she'd never had to make the first move. (What the hell,) she thought nervously, (If I don't ask, I'll never know...) "Uh, Matthias," she began, turning to face him. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw his face just inches from her own. (Oh, my!) she thought wildly, her eyes meeting his, seeing all the repressed desire there. She took a quick breath and leaned forward a bit, her lips gently brushing his.
Matthias was a bit surprised. He had known the girl liked him; hell, he liked her, too... but she knew that he wasn't fully human... so why was she... kissing him? He gasped, feeling her press her mouth more firmly against his, and finally decided that he'd been thinking too much. She was the Seer... maybe she didn't care that much about his mixed blood. He slowly pressed himself closer to her, his hand releasing hers and coming to rest on the back of her head as his tongue gently prodded at her lips.
Cordelia smiled, her lips opening, and met his questing tongue with her own, her hands rising to lightly trace the muscles of his arms, his shoulders, his back. She sighed around his mouth, not wanting this feeling to ever end. He felt so good... so right to her... No wonder she'd never found the right man before, because here he was, and he wasn't exactly a man at all... maybe it was a Hellmouth thing, she decided. She almost groaned in disappointment, opening her eyes as he pulled away. "Ma... Matthias?" she said shakily, "Wha... what is it? What's wrong?"
Matthias laughed slightly, feeling dazed from the sensations coursing through his body. "Nothing, Cordy," he said, voice trembling from pent up emotion. "I just... is this fair to you?" he asked, resting his forehead against hers and staring deep into her eyes, "I mean, is this the right time for us to do this?" He pulled back, taking her hand once again. "We're going to try the ritual soon, and regardless of what I said earlier, there are no guarantees that I'll even survive it... Oh, I probably will," he clarified, not liking the panic he saw in her eyes, "But there's always the chance... and I just don't know if it's fair, to you, to let you get involved with me right now... And why would you want to?" He suddenly almost growled, looking at her. "I mean, you're smart, and beautiful, and the Seer! You could have anyone! Why would you want me? I'm impure! Half human! No one like you should ever want me!" He dropped her hand and stood, pacing through her living room almost angrily. "And don't say that you don't care about my blood! Everyone cares about that! It's never... I've never been good enough... not for anyone! Gods, sometimes I wish that my family had managed to kill me off!" He stopped, dropping to the couch and sighing heavily. "But then I wouldn't be here, able to help you... Is that it?" he said suddenly, looking everywhere but at the stunned brunette across the room, "Is that what this is all about? You need me to help you, to bleed for you, and maybe I'll be more willing if you act like you want me?"
Cordelia couldn't believe the things he was saying. He hadn't ever struck her as being that insecure, but obviously he was... and what in the hell was he saying, that she couldn't want him just because of him? She could feel her anger rising, and knew that it had just about crested when he accused her of kissing him because she wanted his help. She jumped up from her seat and stalked towards him, all guard over what she was going to say completely gone. "You... you man!" she cried, fury and disappointment apparent in both her tone and words. "How dare you? I couldn't want you because you're half human? Well, guess what, Mister Mixed Blood? Full human, here! The only reason that I care about your blood at all is because I want to see it stay right where it is! You think that I'm being nice to you, acting like I want you, because we need you for the ritual? You're an idiot! I've been nice because I like you, you big jerk, and I've acted like I want you because I do! My God!" she swore, as she spun and glared at him, "You're not like any guy I've ever met! You make me feel things that I didn't even know existed before! And, OK, maybe I was pushing things a little by kissing you like that, but... you said it yourself." She sighed, still angry but hating the fact that he'd been right about one thing, "There are no guarantees. This ritual of yours... it could end up killing you, because of your blood... and I could get hit by a bus!" She crossed to him and crouched down before him. "None of us know, Matthias. We're not supposed to. The only thing I do know is that I like you... a lot, and I want you even more... and that's why I kissed you." She reached up, cradling his cheek in the palm of her hand. "Not because we need your help. Not because I wanted you to be more willing to possibly die for this." She sighed, pushing her fingers back and entangling them in his hair, forcing him to meet her eyes. "I kissed you because I wanted to... and I wanted to see what this thing is between us... what it could be... if you'll let it?" She stopped talking then, staring deep into her eyes, hoping that her own would show him just exactly how strongly she really felt. It was a bit too early for the L-word, but that didn't change the fact. She might not have been ready to say it yet, not to this man who she'd known for such a short time, but that didn't stop her from feeling it... She sighed again, this time in relief, as whatever it was that he did see in her eyes caused him to wrap his arms tightly around her and draw her up into his lap. She smiled slightly, burying her face in the crook of his neck as she just sat with him, enjoying the silence, and the way that they fit together so well.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Spike smirked a bit, softly running his fingertip over Willow's sleeping mouth and laughing gently as her lips twitched and her nose scrunched up. She was just so damned cute when she slept... when she was awake, too. He grinned broadly as she began mumbling in her sleep, something about moths and mailboxes. It never failed to amuse him the things her mind got up to in sleep. He glanced across her sleeping form, staring once again at the empty space there. Ever since Angelus had found the enormous bathtub the night before, he'd spent almost every other hour in there, and granted, it had been fun for the three of them, and then for just Spike and his Sire once their little witch had gotten too tired, but what in the hell was the great bloody poof doing in there all by himself? Spike pulled his mind back to the little redhead by his side, roaming her body gently, firstwith his eyes, then with his hands. Hell, she was beautiful... he didn't think that he'd ever get tired of waking up beside her... He sat up suddenly, something the boy, Matthias, had said finally striking him. (Oh, bloody hell... she's one of theirs... and she won't leave us for long enough to learn from them... Shit!) He slowly slipped from the bed and heading towards the bathing rooms. (Well, we'll just have to convince her! There's no way that another forty or fifty years will ever be enough... Right!) he thought, finally coming to a decision, (Whatever it takes, Angelus and I will do it! 'Cause I'm damned well not letting her go!) He slipped quietly into the bath chamber, smiling slightly when he saw his Sire's long form reclining in the tub, one leg hanging over the side, his arms resting along the top edge. He had almost reached him when he noticed something about the vampire's scent. (Oh, hell!) he thought, completely taken aback by what he was sure he had just realized. (Well, that sure explains a lot,) he acknowledged, still slightly confussed, (But... later. Right now, we need to figure out what to do about Willow...) Spike smiled down into Angelus' deep eyes and stepped carefully into the tub, sighing as he lowered himself into the warm soapy water. He grinned as he felt his Sire's hands turning him and pulling him back, so that his back rested against the darker vampire's broad chest. He leaned his head back and turned slightly, placing a soft kiss on Angelus' jaw before speaking. "Mmm... look here, mate... we need to talk about our girl..."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Rupert Giles was well and truly drunk. He, Mykl and Lucinda had been sitting in the bar for close to an hour now, and so far he had had six beers and four shots of Jack Daniels, but he'd had to match the others. Of course, he hadn't been thinking about the fact that they were of a different species altogether, and that maybe that meant that they had a bit more of a tolerance for alcohol... that hadn't even occurred to him at first, and by the time it did, well, he just didn't care. Besides, he had needed to get drunk. It kept him from thinking about Cordelia, up there in her apartment with Matthias. Not that he thought that there was anything wrong with the lad, just... he hoped that Cordelia knew what she was getting herself into. He'd seen the look in her eyes whenever she'd glanced at the dark haired young man, and also the look in Matthias' eyes when he had looked at the Seer. Giles knew that the two of them were indulging in a major infatuation, and that if they weren't careful, it would turn into a full-blown case of love... but maybe they would be able to handle it... Cordelia had certainly changed since she'd left Sunnyhell, and Matthias seemed to be fairly mature... of course, seeing as he was a good two hundred and twenty-four years old, according to Lucinda, he'd better be mature... But maybe, Giles sighed to himself, maybe they'd be all right... assuming that all went well with the ritual, and that Matthias lived through it, of course... He refocused his attention on what Lucinda was saying, and soon found himself laughing at a very amusing story involving Angelus, Spike, a few circus dwarves, and a runaway carriage. He'd worry later.
~Part: 49~
Willow woke up alone. It wasn't that it was a new experience for her... she had woken up alone for most of her life up until a few days earlier, but she was rather surprised that she didn't like the sensation, finally understanding just what Angelus had meant when he said he didn't like it himself. She sighed deeply, knowing that her two vampires were around somewhere, then smiled as she crawled from the bed and pulled on Angelus' silk shirt. She ran her hand over the fabric, loving the feel of it against her skin... that was why she always wore his shirt... it just felt so good! She stepped through the bedroom door, hoping to find her men quickly, and smiled as she heard the low rumbling of their voices echoing from the bathing chamber... the one with that enormous bathtub. She could feel herself blushing bright red as she remembered the events that had taken place in that very tub the evening before. Slipping through the door, she was somewhat surprised to see her lovers engaged in what looked to be a very serious conversation. "Um, guys?" she said, low and throaty, as she walked towards them, "What's going on?" She perched on the edge of the tub, glancing back and forth between them, looking for some sign of... something, first in a pair of deep brown eyes, and then a pair of smouldering blue ones. "Guys?" she said again, almost worried until all of a sudden, two pairs of large, cool hands were there, unbuttoning the shirt that she had taken as her own. She sighed as the silk was pushed from her shoulders, and shrieked happily as she was pulled into the steaming water. When she finally got a breath of air after being thoroughly kissed... twice... she had to ask a question that had been bothering her ever since Angelus had found this room. She looked deep into his dark eyes, smiling at the emotion she saw there. "So... why the sudden bathing fixation?"
Angelus laughed, looking at his witch. She really wanted to know! "Well," he finally answered, pulling her towards him and pressing her tightly to his chest, "It's just that I... I like to be warm every now and again... and I thought that it might be nice for you, too... You know, to feel a body next to you... on you," he continued teasingly, lightly caressing her neck with his fingers, "In you... one that wasn't... cold!" He stopped talking, following the path of his fingers with his lips as Spike moved up behind her.
Yeah, pet," Spike said softly, pressing himself against her back, "So you'd know what we'd be like as humans..."
Willow chuckled quietly, loving their attentiveness. "But, guys... if you were human, you would've both been dead, like, a century ago... And besides," she declared shakily, arching her back against her blond's chest, "I kind of like you cold... only you're not really cold... it's more like... cool. Or cooler than me, anyway..." She giggled softly into Angelus' mouth as he cut of her babble with his lips and she felt Spike's tongue on the back of her neck. Of course, she decided, if they liked the tub that much, then she was all for it!
Angelus looked deeply into his childe's eyes as he turned their witch to face the blond. The three of them were going to have to talk soon... he smiled, relieved when he saw that same knowledge reflected in Spike's face... but not, he decided, feeling Willow's tight little body writhing against him, not right now... there'd be time for that later. He grinned against her skin, hearing her deep moan as his tongue traced the mark he'd left on her neck... whatever happened, she was theirs... just as they were hers.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Matthias smiled across the room at Cordelia, and she could have sworn that her heart skipped a beat. The half human man affected her as no one else ever had, and if it hadn't been for the presence of a very drunk Rupert Giles, along with Lucinda and Mykl who were both stone cold sober, she would probably have dragged him off to her bed right then and there. She sighed, tearing her eyes away from him, and called the next number on her list.
Matthias watched her as she turned back to the phone, the smile still planted firmly on his face. He wondered if she knew just how expressive her eyes were... he had seen everything going on in her mind a moment earlier as if it had been laid out for display to him. He glanced carefully at the others in the room. Maybe it was just him, he decided, seeing that no one had even noticed their exchange of looks. He grinned at the Seer as she hung up the phone, flashing him a quick thumbs-up before continuing to her next call. It was all going very well, he thought, as he did a quick mental tally... at this rate, they'd have enough people for the link to be successful in less than another hour. Then, all that would be left to do was... for him to bleed. But first, he reminded himself, first he'd have to do something about that chip in William's head... Spike, he told himself, his name is Spike now... just because Luce had always called him William when she talked about him, that was no reason to call the man by a name that he'd chosen not to use any longer. Besides, what Luce could get away with and what he could get away with, were most likely two very different things. He sighed softly, knowing that he was just trying to distract himself from what he was going to have to do... he really wasn't looking forward to it.
Lucinda had, of course, noticed everything that had passed between Matthias and the Seer, but had deliberately pretended not to. Cordelia was a nice girl, and Matthias... well, Matthias was old enough to make his own decisions now... truth to tell, he had been old enough for years; she just hadn't wanted to admit it. She slowly crossed the room, sitting down beside him on the couch. "So, love," she said quietly, taking his hand in hers, "She's the one?"
Matthias looked at her, surprised, and then at the pale hand holding his loosley. "I... I don't know... not for sure," he amended, glancing back up at her eyes. "Maybe... I... I think so." He gazed raptly at her, waiting for the explosion that he was sure was coming. A slight breeze could have tipped him over when she just smiled. "So... you approve, Luce? I mean, I have your blessing?"
Lucinda laughed softly. "Do you really need it, love? You're a grown man... it's time that you choose for yourself... but for what it's worth, I think you'd be good for each other... although I will miss you... it's just as well, though," she said, more to herself than to him, "I won't be needing a bodyguard for a while, once this is done, anyway." She looked back at him, feeling his hand squeezing hers tightly. "What, love? You knew that I couldn't escape indefinitely. I have a duty to fulfill, and much as I may hate it, my honour depends upon keeping my word... if I don't, then I become no better than those we fight against."
Matthias sighed, knowing she was right. " How long, Luce?"
"How long, what, love? How long til I go back? How long will I have to stay? How... how long until we will see each other again? Or how long have I known?" Lucinda smiled sadly, staring at the floor in front of her.
"Yes." he said softly, "How long?"
She sighed, releasing his hand and wrapping her arms around herself, as if trying to get used to being her own comfort. "In order? About a week. A few hundred years, probably. Maybe..." she held in the sob, "Maybe never. And... always, love... I've always known that I'd have to go back someday... I didn't know that it would be this soon until last night, though." She raised her eyes, looking at the ceiling as the tears threatened to fall. "I once refused to give you up, Matthias, and now... now I refuse not to. You can have a good life here, with the Seer... " Lucinda smiled shakily, finally meeting his eyes again. "You love her. And she loves you, I can see it even if she's not ready to admit it yet... and you will work with her, with the warrior, and the witch, and with William, too. They will be your family, much as I have been, and Mykl... and as Archer, Rikk and VanWey used to be. It will be a good life, Matthias. But you have to let me go." She shook her head in response to his murmurred 'No'. "Yes, love... after all, someone has to train the little witch, and maintain the flow of the balance here... it can't be me, I'm too close to it... too much history there. And you'll still have our place in my little pocket dimension... You can take the Seer there to relax. Imagine how much she'll love that!... she can get away for a day of mortal time, and get almost a week's worth of rest before she has to come back to fight the good fight..." She stopped talking as his arms firmly enveloped her, his face buried in her long red hair. She felt him, one more time, inhale the scent of her, and finally, finally, she allowed herself to cry... for the pain, for the loss, but mostly... mostly for the hope that perhaps here, in this place, with this woman, he would find himself home... and whole. She smiled a bit shakily at the tissue that was suddenly floating before her eyes. "Thank you, Dennis," she murmurred softly, plucking it from the air.
Mykl stood by, knowing from their postures exactly what they had just discussed. He wished that there was some way that he could make this easier for them, but... there really wasn't. Matthias had to stay, and Lucinda had to go back. There was no help for it. The only thing that was still in question, as far as his people were concerned, was whether he and his former shield-brothers would be required to go back, as well. He wasn't sure if he even wanted to, but quickly put that thought from his mind. No matter what he might want, it wasn't his decision... it was Lucinda's, and he would do her bidding, as always. His gaze was drawn from the two on the couch by a deep and heart-felt sigh coming from the Seer.
"All right," Cordelia said tiredly, "That's everyone. They'll each be in a private and secure place before moonrise, and we'll do the binding then." She looked over at the dark haired man she cared so much for, surprised to see the sorrow in his eyes. "Matthias?" she said softly, crossing the room to crouch before him, "What is it? What's wrong?"
He smiled shakily down at her, his fingertips lightly brushing her lips. "Nothing, Cordy, it's just... I've been saying goodbye to Luce... No! Not like that!" he exclaimed, seeing the anguish in her eyes, "She... she's been called home... I... we won't be seeing her for a long time, it's... family business... nothing to do with the ritual, or... or me."
Cordelia sighed in relief. For a minute there, she'd been afraid that he was saying that this ritual would kill him after all. But Luce... "Do... do you have to leave right now?" she asked, wondering how they could ever pull this off without her.
Lucinda stood, pulling herself together. Now was not the time to fall apart. "Yes, I do... but only to fetch Willow and Wil... Spike. They have to be here for this to work." She looked at Mykl wearily. "Mykl, come with me. I'll need you to keep Angelus company until you receive my signal. When you do, you open the portal and cast him through, all right?" She waited for his nod before turning back to Matthias and Cordelia. "OK, we're going to the club. You will need to be there within the next half-hour, with everything that is required for this working." She saw them nod, and turned towards the door, preparing to leave. "Oh, and Matthias, see if you can't sober Ripper up before then, OK? He's not going to be much use to us if he's all drunk and shit." She somehow managed to step out of the apartment, Mykl on her heels, and once she had shut the door behind them, allowed him to lead her out of the building and down the street, towards the C-note Lounge.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Mykl had been worried at first, when Lucinda had just passively let him lead her around... plus, it had felt strange. She was the one who was supposed to do the leading... he was the one whose job it was to follow. But as they had gotten farther and farther away from the Seer's apartment, she had become more and more like herself, and by the time they reached the club, she was once again firmly in control of things.
Lucinda stood in front of the blank wall. "All right," she said softly, passing her hand along the flat white surface, "Let's go see how our love-birds are doing." She stepped through, Mykl close behind, into something that neither of them were expecting.
It looked and sounded as if a fire-fight was going on! She could see the broken furniture and objets d'art littering the floor, and could very clearly hear the voices of Angelus and... Willow?... raised to a truly frightening level. She finally shook off her shock as she heard what sounded like something heavy and crystal smashing to pieces in the next room, and flew through the doorway to see more of the destruction she'd found in the entry, along with an extremely pissed off witch. A witch who was currently hurling a chair at a dodging vampire, without benefit of using her hands. "What in the hell is going on here?" she asked aloud, not really expecting an answer.
Spike leaped up from his spot behind a couch and pulled her to the floor, while Mykl ducked back out into the hallway. "Well, luv, this is apparently what happens when someone isn't very diplomatic about telling Red that she needs to leave us for gods know how long so that she can study magic." he said, sounding amused. "I honestly didn't know she had it in her!"
"And you didn't say anything to make it better, did you, Spike?" Lucinda asked, cringing as she heard yet another one of her fragile items shatter.
"There was nothing I could say, Luce... he opened his mouth and talked for maybe a minute, and the next thing I knew, it was like this!" he said, gesturing towards the destruction occurring on the other side of their shelter. "He didn't even get to tell her the part about being able to visit, so... I'm not stupid, there's too much wood flying around out there! Besides, my Red's gonna feel bad enough about trashing your place, how do you think she'd feel if she staked my by accident?"
"How do you think she'd feel if I staked you on purpose?" Lucinda snapped back at him. "I think she'd forgive me!" She sighed, turning towards him. "Sorry, Spike... it's been a rough couple of days..."
"Tell me, luv?" Spike said brightly. "It's not like we're going anywhere 'til this mess sorts itself out..."
Lucinda laughed, loving the fact that deep down, underneath all the changes in him, there was still a spark of her sweet William. "Oh, it's nothing, love... I just... I had to say goodbye to Matthias today... tell him that I'm going home when all this is over." She stared mistily into space for a moment. "It was... harder than I'd expected... after all, I've hardly spent any time apart from him since..."
"Since he was born... I know." Spike said softly, looking into her eyes. "I always wondered where you would run off to when we were all in London... even tried to follow you a few times... but somehow, you always managed to lose me... you were going to him... to make sure he was OK... He's your son, isn't he? Yours and the poof's." He looked away from her, slowly putting to words what he had only recently figured out. "You knew him before... Angelus, I mean... when he was human... and you loved him. That's why you were so willing to play his games, isn't it? You missed him. And you had Matthias, a constant reminder of everything that you lost when that bitch Darla made him a demon... so when you saw him again..." Spike trailed off, suddenly seeing it so clearly in his mind that it was almost painful.
"I... I needed him," Lucinda finished for him, her head spinning dizzily. "I needed him, and I wanted him, because gods know, I never stopped loving him." She cringed back as a percelain vase crashed against the wall directly above them. "I loved him... and I left him. For the second time." She laughed a bit madly, seeing the surprise in his eyes. "He never told you that, did he? But, no, why would he? He was... everything to me, from the first moment we met... I loved him, and he loved me. He knew exactly what I was, I told him! And he accepted it! We were so happy, Spike... we were young, and in love, and had no thought of ever being apart, but then..."
"Then?" Spike coaxed, as her silence continued.
Lucinda sighed. She had already told him so much... what difference did it make if she told him the rest? She took a deep breath, then another. "Then... I was called home. I was told that a contract had been arranged for me. I was to be bound to the son of another noble house. I would grace his bed until I bore his child. Don't look so shocked, Spike. It was a fairly standard practice even in the mortal world in those days. But unlike mortals, my people do not have the luxury of death, so... until a child is born. It makes a sick sort of sense, considering the way my people are."
"So what happened," he asked, finding himself quite intrigued by this glimpse into her past with his Sire.
"I... I did something that had never been done successfully before. I refused. I refused the contract, refused the bond... refused to have anything to do with it. But don't think that I was objecting to the practice itself... had I never met Liam, as he was called then, I would most assuredly have gone along with it... But I had met him, and I loved him so dearly, I wasn't willing to betray him. So, I stayed firm in my resolve... and eventually it became apparent to my family that Matthias was in the making." She sighed, looking away. "And once he arrived, I went looking for my love, but... he was gone. His whole village was gone, and nobody could tell me what had happened. So. I went home, and tried to raise Matthias well, and eventually, when he was old enough, I took him and left. That's when I ran into you all in London. What I didn't know at the time was that my father had sent some of his men after me, to bring me back... and they succeeded by taking Matthias away. My father told me that he would 'kill that damned embarrassment of a half-breed' if I didn't return, and so I did. When I heard that you were all still in London almost a year later, I realized that he was still waiting for me to come back, and that's when I sent Mykl to make the deal with your Sire."
"Yeah," Spike said, wonderingly, "I remember... we swore never to speak of you to other demons, even if they already knew about you, and you... you promised not to keep track of him... or even let him see your face again..." He thought about it for a moment before speaking again. "So, you never told him... he never knew that he he had a son?"
"No!" Lucinda hissed intently, "And he never will! What good would it do, Will? Nothing can change what's happened, and he has a new love now... along with an old one," she winked, patting his shoulder.
"Maybe you're right, Luce, but..." he sighed, unable to resist the begging look in her eyes, "All right! I won't tell him."
"You won't have to, boy, he already knows!" came the angry voice from the other side of the couch.
Spike and Lucinda stared at each other, eyes wide, well aware of the fact that the same thought was running through both their minds.
(Oh, shit!)
~Part: 50~
"Oh, gods..." Lucinda moaned, staring up at the face glaring at her from the other side of the couch. "I... I..." She stopped trying then, knowing that no matter what she said, he would never forgive her for not telling him... for keeping such a big secret from him. She moaned again, covering her face with her hands.
"Right, then," Spike muttered from his spot beside her. "All right," he said loudly, standing and rounding the couch, "I don't think you two need us here right now..." He took Willow's hand and pulled her gently from the room.
"Spike?" the redhead said, sounding confused, "What's going on? I mean, one minute, I'm fighting with Angelus, and the next..." She smiled against his chest as he pulled her into a tight hug.
"Well, pet... my Sire just found out that he has a completely different kind of child... and I don't really think that he's taking it too well. Best if we just let him and Luce hash it out between them." He gasped slightly as he felt her warm little fingers slip under his shirt. "None of that, luv," he said softly, pulling away from her, "We need to talk about what Angelus said to you... you know, the thing that got you all riled up. But first... how, exactly, did he get you to stop?
The redheaded girl smiled up into his lovely blue eyes. "I made a mistake. I let him get too close, and I couldn't throw anything else at him without hitting myself! The next thing I knew," she said, sounding puzzled, "He looked like he was listening to something, and then he was... across the room. I didn't even see him move!"
Spike nodded to himself. It made sense. As soon as all the noise had stopped, Angelus would have been able to hear his and Luce's conversation, even if Willow couldn't. The surprising thing to him was that they'd been so caught up in their little talk, they hadn't even noticed the quiet in the formerly loud room. He sighed deeply, returning his mind to the little witch in his arms. "All right, luv... now, about the thing that started all this..."
Willow sniffled, her eyes welling up with tears that threatened to spill any moment. "He... he told me that he wanted me to leave you... the both of you, I mean... Why, Spike? I thought he loved me... why would he want me to leave you?" She sighed, the tears finally overflowing. "Unless he's tired of me already... sure. That's probably it. Everyone leaves me... Why should he want me around, anyway? It's not like I'm special, or even pretty... and you two are so beautiful, you should be with some woman who's beautiful, too..." She felt herself being pulled against him more tightly.
"Pet..." Spike murmurred quietly into her hair, "You know that's not true. You are beautiful... You're the most perfect creature I've ever seen in my life... all of it! And I know Angelus feels exactly the same way. Shhh... just listen." He felt her stilling in his arms, and continued, holding her close. "He doesn't want you to leave us... not for good, anyway... He just wants you to... study with Luce, or some of her people. Y'see, luv, we talked about it, and we decided that we can do without you for a little while if it means that you can learn the kinds of magics that'll keep you with us for centuries instead of just decades... We want you to be with us for as long as possible, and forty or fifty years just isn't enough time!" He pulled back slightly, tilting her face up to look into her eyes. "Do you understand, pet? We're not trying to get rid of you... we're trying to keep you forever. Or as close to forever as we can, at any rate... And it's not like we wouldn't still see you. We can visit, you know... and you can come home, too... just not all the time. We love you, Red... you'll never be rid of us!" He smiled at the light that was suddenly back in her eyes, and leaned down a bit to press a soft kiss on her waiting lips.
"But why," she asked tightly, once Spike's lips left hers, "Why didn't he just say that? Why did he make me think that he didn't... that you didn't..." She shook her head, not sure of exactly how to phrase it.
Spike sighed and pulled his little witch more firmly to him. "Well, he's not exactly the most... diplomatic being, is he? I'm sure he would have explained it... eventually... but you didn't really give him much of a chance, now did you?" He laughed softly, hearing her moan as she remembered what she had done to Luce's living room. "Remind me never to piss you off like that, Red... I'm not sure I'd survive it! Now," he said silkily, as he lifted the girl up in his arms, "I think I'd better show you just how much I do want you around... for eternity."
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Lucinda stared at the floor from her spot on the couch. She felt like she'd been in that position for hours, although she knew that it couldn't have been more than a few minutes. She wished that he'd say something already... anything. But he didn't. She could feel the weight of his eyes on her as he just stood there, and she found that she was almost... scared. Angelus was never this quiet... maybe he was trying to think of some kind of torture to use on her. No, she decided, torture wasn't something he'd need to think about. The silence stretched on as she got more and more nervous, until she actually jumped, startled, when he finally spoke.
"Why?" he said quietly. Just one word, with a multitude of questions hidden behind it. "Why?" he said again.
Lucinda sighed. He would ask that. She stared at the floor a while longer, then finally raised her eyes to meet his, saddened by the disappointment and betrayal she saw in those deep brown orbs. "For Matthias." She sighed again, standing to pace the room, careful to avoid the rubble from his earlier altercation with Willow. "I... I looked for you, you know... after I left the first time. I wanted to tell you... let you meet him... Oh, gods... who am I kidding? I wanted to be with you again... to tell you where I'd been, and everything that had happened. But you were gone." She glanced at him, seeing the painful realization in his eyes. "Yes. You had been turned. But, I didn't know that! All I knew was that you were gone... your whole town was gone. Honestly, until the night I ran into you in London, I thought you were dead... and not in the 'still walking around, but feeding on humanity' sense, either. Hell, Liam... Angelus... I knew you were... I visited your grave at least a dozen times... I was in mourning for you for almost a hundred years. Then, when I did see you again, you were so... changed. I didn't know how you'd react, and so I said nothing, and... after I got to know the 'new' you, I decided that it was safer for Matthias if I never told you... I..." she turned away from his agonizing stare. "I didn't want him to be like that... the way you were... vicious... brutal... self serving. Oh, don't get me wrong," she continued, hearing his swiftly indrawn breath, "I enjoyed those parts of you. Well, all right, not at first... pain is, after all, an aquired taste, but aquire it I did! It just wasn't what I wanted for Matthias." Lucinda turned and made her way back to the couch. "So, that's the why of it, love... I'm sorry, but if I had it to do over again, I would still do things the same way."
Angelus thought fiercely about everything she'd just said as he settled beside her. Much as he hated to admit it... "You... were right not to tell me, Luce... I would have tried to make him just like me." He sighed, rubbing his eyes with one strong hand. "And you did a damned fine job raising him... It couldn't have been easy at Court, what with the whole 'half human' thing... Bunch of snobs, your people." He smiled slightly as Luce relaxed against the back of the couch. "But, does he know? About me, I mean?" He found that he hoped so... what he'd seen of the young man had impressed him, and he really wanted the chance to get to know him a little better.
"Yes," Luce said softly, reading the emotions on his face like a book, "And you'll have plenty of time to spend with him... he'll be staying on in LA after the ritual... first, to recover, but mostly... mostly for the Seer." She could see the surprise in his suddenly neutral expression, and almost laughed at herself for remembering so much about him after all the time that had passed.
Angelus blinked twice. (My son... and Cordelia? Well, why not...)
Lucinda smiled slightly, "I'm trusting you to look after him, Angelus... to at least try to keep him out of trouble. He has a remarkable propensity towards drawing it to him..." She grinned a bit more broadly, "Wonder where he gets that from!" She began to chuckle slightly as the large vampire beside her let loose a laugh. "But, in any case, love," she added, once her giggles had died down, "You should probably go find William and Willow... I need them in LA if this ritual's going to work. Mykl will stay here with you, to keep you company until it's time for your part." She smiled, watching his ass as he walked off to find his loves. "Tell them that they need to be ready in an hour..." she called after him, glad, once again, that time passed differently here than in the mortal world... she'd hate to have to interrupt them.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Cordelia sighed happily, loving the way Matthias' arms felt around her... unfortunately, she thought, pulling away, this wasn't getting it done. "OK, Matthias, what are we gonna do about Giles?" she said, motioning towards the stinking drunk ex-Watcher sprawled across her living room floor. "I know Luce said to sober him up, but frankly, I don't think there's enough coffee in the entire world to do that in less than, say, a week." She watched, confused, as her man crossed the room to the drunk man's side and crouched down beside him. "Matthias?" Cordelia asked slowly, "What are you... oh!" She felt her eyebrows trying to meet her hairline as his hands took on a soft glow.
Matthias glanced quickly at the lovely brunette... his lovely brunette, and smiled as he placed one glowing hand on the Englishman's chest, and the other on his head. "I'm sobering him up, Cordy," he smirked, pulling his hands away after a few seconds. He stood, the glow fading. "He should be awake, and none the worse for wear, in a few minutes. Until then, though," he said, slowly approaching the girl, "Where were we?" He smiled, opening his arms to her, an appreciative purr coming from his throat as she snugged herself against him. "Hmmm... and everything else is ready?" he murmurred softly into her ear, taking her nod as a yes, "Good..." He stopped talking then, as his mouth was suddenly occupied with the Seer's full, warm lips. He loved this, he decided, as he felt her tongue meet his... but he was so not looking forward to his part in the ritual. Oh, well, he told himself, if the bleeding made it possible for him to have this woman as his own personal nurse, it would be well worth it. He turned his mind back to the girl in his arms, deciding that he wasn't going to think about the whole 'blood letting' portion of the night's festivities until he absolutely had to.
~Part: 51~
"All right," Lucinda said, looking at the three people before her, "Here's how this is going to work. William and Willow, you'll come with me now. With any luck, Matthias and the Seer are at the club and Matthias has already initiated the binding on our... 'helpers'." She sighed softly, hating that the boy had been the one to have to do it, but there was no help for it. His talents ran that way, and hers didn't. "Angelus, you stay here with Mykl until it's time for your part in the ritual."
Angelus looked slowly down at his hands, which were at the moment still joined with those of his lovers. "Yeah," he said slowly, raising his eyes to meet Lucinda's, "You keep talking about my part in this thing, but... I have no idea of what it is that I'm supposed to do..."
"Don't worry," the tall redhead replied gently, "All that will be required of you is your presence... Mykl will send you through the portal when I signal him, and that's it... you just need to show up. Speaking of which..." She reached into the pocket of her jacket and removed a large pale blue crystal. "Here." she said, handing it to her retainer, "This will glow when it is time."
Mykl nodded, closing his fingers around it. "What of the others, Luce?" he asked curiously, "What's going to happen to them?"
Lucinda sighed, not meeting his eyes. "I don't know, Mykl... I still don't know how they managed to refuse me their help... it depends on what I find out after this whole thing is over. But I can tell you one thing," she said, finally raising her eyes to his, "Whatever their reason, they will not be sworn to me any longer. I won't allow it. They have made it clear that I can no longer trust them to look after my interests, or do my bidding." She shook her head slightly, feeling badly for him. "I'm sorry, Mykl. I know they're your friends, but..."
"No," Mykl broke in, "You're right. Whether they're my friends or not is immaterial in this case. They must be released. I was just wondering if they would be... shunned."
"Gods," Lucinda groaned, "I hope not... if I can find any way to avoid that, I will... but it all depends on why, doesn't it? I may have no choice in the matter."
Mykl sighed deeply. "I know... I just wanted to..."
"See how malicious I was feeling towards them?" She smiled, still a bit sad. "Mykl... they served me well for over two hundred years! I can't lie, I am angry at them all, but... I will only go to that extreme if I have to." She returned her gaze to the three very confused people still standing nearby. "Sorry. Personal stuff."
The blond vampire grinned widely. "Well, duh, Luce... C'mon, love, can we get this over with now? I'm not used to wearing all these clothes around these two!" He turned hot, wicked eyes on his lovers, promising hours of pleasure with his glance.
"Yeah, Luce," Angelus said softly, still staring at the bleached blond, "Let's do this thing... I've got a witch and a pain in the ass childe to shag..."
Lucinda laughed, watching the blush spread across the little redhead's cheeks. "Fine!" she said, still amused, as she passed her hand over the wall and the portal sprang into being. "Let's go." She stood by, waiting, as the blond and the redhead gently pulled their hands from their dark haired lover's, smiling broadly as they kissed him goodbye. "Gods," she finally said impatiently, "You'll see him again in a few minutes! Now come on!"
Willow giggled as she stepped away from Angelus. "Sorry, Luce," she said quickly, moving to the peach coloured glow, 'He's just so... hard to resist!"
"Yeah, love," Spike added, stepping up behind his witch, "He's a bloody marvel!" He took Willow's hand in his and stepped into the light, pulling the girl behind him.
Lucinda gazed almost sadly at the dark haired vampire. "Don't I know it..." she murmurred to herself before turning on her heel and following them back to the mortal world.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"All right," Matthias finally said, putting down the chalk he'd been using on the floor, "That's done!" He stood back, examining his handywork as the Seer approached and wrapped her arms around his waist from behind. He smiled, covering her hands with his.
"So... it's gonna be OK, isn't it?" Cordelia asked, trying not to sound concerned as she rested her cheek against his broad back. "I mean, you're not gonna..." Her voice faded away, the words stopped by the rather large lump in her throat.
He sighed softly, pressing back against her for comfort. "I don't know, Cordy, but... it should be fine. This sort of thing's been done before, and..." He sighed again. "I don't know."
Cordelia nodded slowly against him, relieved that he at least respected her enough to tell her the truth. She loosened her hold on him as he turned in her arms, his hands coming to rest at the small of her back. She looked up into his eyes and swallowed hard. "Well, in case something happens... I... you should know that I..."
Matthias smiled, bringing a hand to her face. He cupped her cheek softly, staring deep into her eyes. "I know, Cordy... I do, too... you, I mean." His hand moved from her face to her back as he pulled her tightly to him, and he smiled softly into her hair as he felt her arms tightening around him. "Come on, love," he murmurred gently to her, "They'll be here any minute."
Cordelia sighed, pulling away. "I know... are we ready?"
He thought about it for a moment. "Well, the energy binding is done, the signs and sigils are drawn... Ripper!" he called out to the man by the bar, "Is there anything we're forgetting?"
Giles looked up, surprised. He had been almost sure that the two young people had forgotten his very presence, and he had done nothing to remind them... this might be all the time that they had, and he hadn't wanted to intrude. "What?" he asked as he ran the last few seconds back through his mind, "Oh, oh yes, I... I think that's everything... All we need now are Willow and Spike... and Lucinda, of course... Speaking of which..." He nodded his head towards the wall behind them, "I do believe they're here!"
The young couple spun around almost as one to see the pale peach glow that had replaced the usually feature-less expanse of wall slowly expose the forms of the three people in question. The witch and the vampire emerged first, followed quickly by the tall redheaded form of Lucinda.
"Willow!" Cordelia shrieked happily as she ran to hug her friend. "Oh, god, Willow! We thought you were dead!" She let the girl go, aware of the fact that she was babbling, but completely unable to stop. "I'm so sorry, Will! I swear I didn't know! They said the redhead was safe, and then they threw me out before I could ask any questions, and then the next thing I knew, Spike was dreaming, which is just weird, and then I went back and they said 'Nooo, the other redhead', and then Giles hit one of them and... I'm just so... sorry..." She slowed down, panting for breath as she saw the amusement on her friend's face. "Don't hate me..." she begged softly, hoping that the girl could forgive her.
Willow had been amazed when the former cheerleader had run to her, but then she realized, from the things the girl was saying, that Cordelia really had no idea of the things that had been happening. "It's OK, Cordy," she said quickly, as her mind processed the information her friend had just spewwed. "Nothing that happened was your fault. Besides," she said happily, the thought suddenly occurring to her, "If you hadn't gotten the wrong information, I wouldn't have Spike and Angelus now, would I?" She smiled as she felt Spike's cool arms wrap around her, his strong, cool chest pressing against her back.
"That's right, pet," he said over his redhead's shoulder, "And she'd have been wasted on just the poof..." He grinned at the surprised look in the Seer's eyes as she managed to process exactly what that meant.
"Oh..." Cordelia said, confused for a moment, then, "Oh!" She could feel her eyes growing wide as she stared at the redhead wrapped up in the blond's arms. "Geez, Will! Both of them? And I thought you were the sweet and innocent one!"
Willow smiled, knowing that she was blushing again. "Jealous, Cordy?" she said teasingly before something the girl had said earlier finally registered on her mind. "Did... did you say Giles was here?" she asked softly, afraid for a moment of how the former watcher, who had been almost a father to her, would react when he found out about her and Angelus... and Spike. Would he be angry?... Disappointed in her? Her eyes followed the direction of Cordy's head toss, and she realized that she was about to find out. "Giles..." she said softly.
Giles almost laughed at the pensive look on her face, and decided that he just couldn't pass up the opportunity to tease her a bit. "Willow," he said, sounding very serious, "I'm glad to see that you're all right. Now, that said, are you insane? I can understand that you felt lonely after the whole Tara incident, but really... two vampires? And for those vampires to be Spike and Angelus, well I'm just so... happy for you, my dear. Or I will be after this ritual works..." He grinned slyly at the girl as he watched her mouth opening and closing with no words coming out. He turned his smile to Spike. "Nice to see you again. If you hurt her, I'll kill you. And that goes for that Sire of yours as well. I'll dust you and keep you in a jar on my mantle, pulling it down only long enough to piss on your ashes every now and again."
Spike grinned at the mental image, knowing that the man meant every word. "I wouldn't expect any less from you, Ripper," he replied honestly, "And believe me when I say that if I hurt her, I'll let you... and I'm sure Angelus would agree. After all, you are just about the girl's father; that would give you the right!" He would have said more, but just then Lucinda broke in to the conversation, speaking from the side of the room where she'd been watching them all.
"Willia... Spike, I mean... Spike, Ripper, you can have your little father-in-law/son-in-law chat a bit later on, hmmm? We really need to get started here." She looked sadly at Matthias, dreading what would happen soon, but there was no help for it. He had to be the sacrifice. He was the only one with the necessary connection to Angelus. "Matthias," she said softly, trying to keep the concern from her voice, "Are you ready, love?"
Matthias just looked at her for a moment before replying. "No, Luce... there's something I have to do first... For Spike." He could see in her eyes that she wanted to object, but he could also see the realization that if things went wrong with the ritual for some reason, there wouldn't be another chance. He returned her slow nod before turning his gaze to the vampire and the witch. The blond looked surprised. "Come with me," Matthias said softly, "Both of you." He turned away and walked across the room and down the hallway, not looking to see if they were following him... he knew they were.
Spike looked, confused, at the tall redhead who was staring wistfully after the boy. "Luce?" he asked softly.
"Go, Spike," she said flatly, "He wants to do this. Let him."
He nodded slightly, stepping back from his waitch. "C'mon, luv," he said, taking Willow's hand in his own, "Let's see what the boy is planning."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Mykl was getting annoyed. The vampire had been staring at him for what felt like hours, and he had, quite frankly, had enough. "What?" he demanded baldly, "What is it?"
Angelus looked at him for a moment longer before finally saying what had been on his mind ever since Luce and the others had left. "Why are you doing this?" He ran a large hand through his hair, thinking for a moment before elaborating. "Why are you helping her? I know you don't like me. I remember the way you acted when you came to me in London with Luce's deal. So why are you helping? Why didn't you just tell her 'No', like your friends did?"
Mykl glared at the bigger man. "I'm doing this because she asked me to. I'm still sworn to her, you know... it's not like I have a choice! But even if I did, I would still be helping her. And you're right, by the way," he said, turning away from the vampire, "I don't like you. I don't like the way you treated her then, and I don't like the way you're treating her now! I think you're bad for her. You weren't around the last time, but after she left you, it took us months to put her back together, and it was years before she was anything like her old self! If I had my way, I'd just stake you now and save us all a world of heartache and pain... but it's not my decision to make. For some reason, Luce seems to think that the world's a better place with you in it... she also thinks that after this ritual of hers, you'll go back to fighting for the Powers."
Angelus stared openly at the man. "But you don't think so," he stated.
Mykl shook his head angrily. "No, I don't. I think that you're too selfish to do anything for anyone other than yourself. I also think that you're an evil bastard, balanced or not." He sighed deeply, returning the vampire's stare. "But I'll tell you this much... if Matthias doesn't make it through this ritual, I'm coming after you." He continued, turning away before he could see the shock on Angelus' face. "I will do the one thing that I swore I'd never do, and I'll betray her. He's a good man, and I'll be damned, in the literal sense, if I'll let you keep running around being a prick after he's dead from trying to give you another chance!" He stopped suddenly as he was pushed up against the wall by a very large and glower-y vampire.
"What are you talking about?" Angelus growled, his true face emerging. "What do you mean he could die?" He glared at Mykl, slowly releasing him as the man began laughing almost hysterically.
"You mean she didn't tell you!" Mykl wheezed through his angry laughs. "She really didn't tell you!" He forced himself to calm as he recognized the look in Angelus' gold eyes... the vampire was worried... worried and scared! For Matthias! He began to explain Matthias' part in the ritual as he watched both of those emotions become even stronger in the taller man... maybe he'd misjudged him. He finished his explaination, the vampire's next words convincing him that he had, indeed.
"Stop them." Angelus ordered harshly. "Stop them now!"
Mykl sighed, almost afraid to reply. Of course, with the look Angelus was giving him, it might be more dangerous to stay silent. "I can't," he finally said, meeting the other man's furious eyes, "I can't! I don't know what stage they're at. If I tried to stop them now, it would make his death inevitable, instead of just a possibility! That much power going through him at the wrong moment... well, let's just say it wouldn't be good."
Angelus groaned, hearing the truth in Mykl's words. "Why didn't she tell me, then? I would never have allowed it! He's my son! It's my life that should be forfeit for his, not his for mine!"
Mykl almost died of shock. Matthias was Angelus' son? He'd known that the boy was half human, but... He nodded to himself, finally understanding Luce's reaction when she'd first seen him in London. He'd never been able to figure out why she'd been so willing to put up with the vampire's games, but now he did... She must have loved him very much when he was human. "Well," he said, finally finding himself able to speak, "That's probably why... And it's not a sure thing that he'll die, it's just... possible. Chances are, he'll be just fine!"
Angelus groaned again, letting his human features re-emerge. "You're not just saying that to make me feel better, are you?"
"No... no, I'm not. He's strong, Angelus, and he's half Lios. He should be all right. I mean, it's been done before... not this particular ritual, but others... ones that required the same sort of sacrifice. No one's ever died before, but... with his human blood..."
The vampire nodded slowly, trying to puzzle it out in his mind. "So... does that mean that since he's half human, the odds are only fifty-fifty for his survival?" He shuddered slightly, ashamed that the boy would take that big of a risk for him. He was somewhat relieved at Mykl's response, but not completely.
"No," Mykl said softly but clearly, calculating all the factors in his head, "Luce is his mother, and he's got the immortality thing working for him from her side, so..." He closed his eyes for a moment, thinking more intently. Finally, after a few minutes that he was sure had seemed like hours to the vampire, he opened them. "I figure it at about eighty-twenty. He'll probably live, and once he recovers he should be just fine." He smiled to himself at Angelus' sigh of relief. He'd definitely misjudged the man!
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Willow watched confusedly as Matthias settled Spike in the chair. They were in what had to be, from the clothing strewn about, Lucinda's dressing room. She wasn't sure of exactly what it was that the dark haired man had in mind, but Spike seemed to be looking forward to it. She latched her eyes onto those of her lover, finding a quiet joy there that startled her. She could have stared into his eyes for hours, but she was pulled back to reality by Matthias' voice calling her name.
"Willow," he said softly, seeing that she was distracted, "Will!" He smiled when she finally tore her gaze from the vampire. "I'm going to need your help, OK? This isn't going to be fun for him, so I need you to hold him as still as possible. Sit on him if you have to!" He grinned as the girl took him literally.
"What... what are you going to do to him?" she asked timidly from her spot on Spike's lap. She could feel her eyes going round as he began to reply.
"Well, I'm going to take care of that chip, for one thing. Now, I can't take it out! That's a bit beyond even me..." he smiled into the little witch's eyes, "But I can for damned sure make it stop working!"
Spike loved the way his sweet Willow felt on his lap, and if it hadn't been for the odd look in her eyes, he probably would have had his hands all over her, but as it was... "Are you all right with this, pet? Do you not want me to do this?"
The redhead smiled shakily at the blond vampire. "No, I... I'm just... surprised is all... I mean, if... if you do let him do this, how does that... I mean, what..." She hung her head a bit, afraid she'd sound selfish if she continued.
Spike was confused for a moment and moved his hand to her chin, tipping her face up to his. "Ah..." he said softly, looking into her eyes, 'How will it affect us... Will I still feel the same way about you once I'm able to treat humans like food again..." He smiled, softly kissing her. "I'll always feel this way about you, luv. You're a part of me now... you and the poof. Nothing's going to change that!" He stared into her eyes, letting her see the truth in his own.
The redhead smiled, suddenly sure of his feelings. "All right," she said slowly, turning her eyes to meet Matthias' brown ones, "Do it."
Matthias smiled as he pulled a long copper needle from his back pocket. "OK, Will... but remember, you have to hold him as still as you possibly can... and Spike?" he said, as he concentrated his mind on finding the exact location of the implant, "Try not to move." Ah... there it was! He pulled back his hand with the spell-enhanced bit of copper in it, and plunged it hard into the blond's head! "Hold him still, Willow!" he grated out as his arm went around the vampire's neck in an effort to stop the convulsive jerking that had just started.
"I'm trying!" the redhead replied, shifting herself to get better leverage.
"Well, try harder!" he responded as he moved the needle inside the vampire's brain. "Ah..." he softly exhaled as he found the item he'd been looking for. "Got it!" His brow furrowed as he concentrated again and sent a small bolt of energy down the copper and into the highly technical bit of metal in Spike's head. He felt it when the zap had done its job, and quickly pulled the needle out. "There," he said softly, meeting the redhead's wide and frightened eyes, "That's done... You can let go of him now." He smiled as the girl just shook her head and pressed herself closer to the now motionless blond. "Willow," he said softly, rounding the chair and crouching down beside the girl, "He's going to be fine, but he'll feel better faster if you let me feed him, OK?"
She stared at him for a moment, eyes wide and wild. She had hated having Spike in that much pain, and knowing that she'd had a part in it, however small, made her feel like she'd... betrayed him in some way. She wanted to stay right where she was, holding on to him, until he woke up, but... if Matthias could help him... She nodded slowly, moving off of Spike's lap, and watched as the young man stepped forward.
Matthias sighed in relief as the girl finally moved. They would need Spike for the ritual, and he'd never recover in time without some of Matthias' blood. He grimaced slightly. This day was sure turning into one hell of a bleed-fest for him. He stood in front of the limp blond and plunged the copper needle into his own index finger. Pulling it out, he held the digit directly over the open mouth of the vampire and squeezed it with his other hand, counting as nine drops of blood fell into it. "There," he said, pulling his hand away, "That ought to do it." He glanced at the girl, seeing the surprise in her eyes. "It's my people. Our blood is... powerful, I suppose you could say." He turned away and sat down on the couch, muttering, "Luce would've only needed three drops... damned mixed blood..." as he put his finger in his mouth, waiting for it to stop bleeding.
Willow would have said something to him in thanks, if nothing else, but just then Spike began to stir, moaning her name, and she was suddenly unaware of anything other than the blond vampire she loved. She moved back to him, crouching in front of him, her eyes trained on his face. "How do you feel?" she asked gently as his eyes slowly cracked open.
Spike thought about it for a moment. "Well, luv," he said softly, staring into her worried green eyes, "I feel like someone just stabbed me in the head with a big fucking piece of metal... oh, wait, someone did!" He pulled his eyes away from hers as he focused on the young man sitting nearby. "Thanks, mate... I owe you one."
Matthias smile a little, pulling his now healed finger from his mouth. "Don't worry about it, Spike. It was as much for my benefit as yours... I couldn't stand the twitchy feeling that thing gave me whenever I was around you."
"And now?" the vampire asked, wondering if their little operation had worked.
"Well, now... no more twitching! With any luck, you'll be back out there biting with the best of them in no time! Oh," He continued, as he stood and went to the door, "You'll be feeling better in a few minutes, so if you could come on out so we can get this ritual over with? Before I change my mind, I mean..." He left the dressing room, not waiting for a response... after all, he still had some preparing to do. It wasn't every day that he bled himself almost to death in order to affix the balance of his vampire father... he chuckled to himself at how ridiculous it sounded... even to him!
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Lucinda stared deeply into Matthias' eyes, looking for any sign of hesitation. She knew that she couldn't continue if there was any doubt in him at all... she didn't have it in her. She sighed silently at the full commitment she saw in him. He would see this thing through to the end, whatever that end might be. She nodded slowly.
The words had been incanted, the necessary actions and offerings made. The questions had been asked and answered the required number of times, and the link to their energy source had been verified and was of adequate strength. All that remained undone was the sacrifice. She nodded to Spike, thanking him silently for his help. She knew that she could trust him to hold Matthias steady; she only wished that the vampire could have taken her job. She turned her head, meeting Ripper's gaze. She nodded and he approached, holding the large silver bowl before him. He stopped, extending the vessel between her and her son. She watched sadly as Matthias extended his arms, palms up, over the concave depths. "We are Lios," she intoned quietly, allowing some of her power to show, "We are Lios, and we have great need. We ask for the strength of power to accomplish our goal, and in return we offer power of a different sort. We offer the blood, willingly given, of the one most closely connected. We offer our strength in return for the strength we require. We do not ask for selfish purposes. We do not ask for sake of love or desire. We ask for the sake of justice and right. Grant us that which we require, for we are Lios and serve only the light!" She felt it then, a great coil of power, swirling invisibly around them all, waiting only for the sacrifice to be enacted. "I'm sorry, love," she murmurred softly to Matthias as she swiftly followed the path of the veins in his forearms with the ritual blade. She watched sadly as his life's-blood flowed quickly into the silver basin. Finally, when the bowl was half full, she nodded again. "Enough," she said, pinching off the flow of his blood with her powers.
"No, Luce," Matthias whispered as loudly as he could, "It isn't enough... I can... feel it... Take more..."
"No!" she hissed angrily at him. "You've given enough! Any more, and you won't... I will not allow you to die for this, Matthias! I will not!"
"It's not your decision, Luce..." he whispered hoarsely. "It's mine... and I choose to do what I must. If I die, then I die... He's the Warrior, and that makes him much more important than some half-breed..."
"No," she said again, tears filling her eyes, "We'll find another way! I can't lose you... you're all I have..."
Matthias looked at her sadly. "There is no other way, Luce, and you know it... I'm his only child." He stopped talking, exhausted, as the blond vampire lowered him to the floor.
"Not exactly, mate," Spike said softly. He turned his eyes to meet Lucinda's teary ones. "I know I'm not one of your people, but I am immortal, for the most part, and I'm Angelus' childe... in a different way than Matthias, here, but still..." He swallowed hard as he stood and extended his own arms over the bowl that Giles was still holding, as he'd seen Matthias do a few minutes earlier. "Give it a shot, pet? If it doesn't work, we'll just be back where we started, right?" He saw the speculation in her suddenly drier eyes. "What could it hurt? Other than me, I mean..." He clenched his jaw as she stood.
To say that she was shocked at Spike's suggestion would have an understatement, but after thinking about it for a moment, she couldn't see any reason why it wouldn't
work. She stood slowly, her eyes locked with his blue ones. "Are you sure you want to do this, William? I don't know what it'll do to a vampire... oddly enough, it's never been tried with one of your kind."
Spike nodded tightly. "I'll take the chance... now do it!" He held back the groan as she placed the knife against his arm and began cutting. It felt like he was being sliced open by fire! He watched, fascinated, as the blood fell from his arm and mingled with the boy's in the bowl. Finally, when the bowl was almost completely full, he felt it. The power was amazing! It flowed through the room and around him, slamming into his chest. He cried out in pain and pleasure as it coursed through his veins, his eyes squeezing shut in reflex.
Lucinda could tell that it was going to work... she knew it as soon as Spike's blood fell into the bowl. The power around them was swirling more madly than it had before, when it had been Matthias doing the bleeding! She gasped as the energy became suddenly visible. It raced around the room a few times before throwing itself into Spike's body, and that's when it hit her... Spike wouldn't know what to do with it! He had no training, no knowledge of how to manipulate the flow! Matthias had been prepared, had known what to expect, but Spike? She quickly came to a decision, and cast her thoughts outward, triggering the crystal she'd left with Mykl. "Move," she hissed at Ripper as she threw herself across the just vacated space where he'd been standing, and grabbed at the vampire. She spun him about and placed him directly across from the place the portal would open. "William!" she cried frantically, "Now! Open your eyes now!"
Spike heard her voice, and wanted to do as she asked, but... the power... it was inside him... he could feel it racing through him, pausing here and there, doing who knew what to him... and it was... whispering things to him, almost telling him stories... He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not, but... he liked it! And he wanted to keep it!
"William!... Spike!" Lucinda cried again, "It has you in thrall! If you don't release it, it'll burn you, from the inside out! Ask it!"
He listened to her warnings and did as she said... he asked it. He frowned slightly to himself as it answered him in its way... Lucinda was right. If he didn't let it go, it would burn him away... there'd be nothing left of him. But... he wouldn't be alone anymore... all that he was would join with it... he'd be a part of it forever! It sounded like a fair trade to him... at least until he heard a familiar voice sobbing from nearby. (Willow...) he thought, unhappy to hear her sounding so scared and sad. He pictured the beautiful witch in his mind, her and Angelus and him... and he realized that he wasn't alone anymore. He loved them, and they loved him... they were a family. He thought about the others, Giles, Cordelia, and, now, Matthias... they were all his family. He sighed, bidding farewell to the power that was temporarily inhabiting him. "What do I do, Luce?" he finally said.
Lucinda sighed in relief when she heard his voice. He was going to let it go! "Think about Angelus being balanced forever... picture it in your mind... feel it, William..." She watched him closely until he finally nodded. "All right... now, open your eyes!" She stood back, shielding her own eyes from the brilliance that blasted from him.
Spike opened his eyes when she told him to, and for a moment thought he'd gone blind. All he could see was a wild rush of light, in all the colours of the rainbow, and some he'd never seen before! He gasped as he felt the last of the power leave his suddenly aching body, and watched as it settled over the wall, forming what looked like... a net?
He shivered as the portal began to open, suddenly feeling cold.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Angelus stared, caught between fear and anticipation, as the pale blue crystal began to glow a deep blue. "Mykl..." he said softly, never taking his eyes from the glow, "I... I think it's time..."
Mykl nodded slowly, surprised by the degree of light coming from the signalling stone. Something must have happened... Luce would never expend that kind of energy for a signal... not unless she had other things on her mind! He shuddered slightly, afraid of what might have gone wrong. "Yes," he said, pulling himself from the introspective moment to quickly cross the room to the portal wall. "Come here," he said commandingly to the vampire, "You have to go first." He waited until Angelus was beside him before reaching out and... twisting the fabric of the dimensions. The portal glowed almost instantly to life, and Mykl placed his hand on the taller man's back and pushed. He waited a moment before passing through himself.
Angelus felt the man's hand push him through the glowing light, and almost growled as he popped through the other side. He didn't though, because as soon as he was fully out of the dimensional doorway, he found himself running head-on into a... net? That was what it looked like to him, anyway... a great big sparkling net. He tried to ask what was going on, but found that he couldn't as the thing, net, whatever it was, wrapped itself around him and sealed itself shut. He started to panic, only to relax as it apparently melted away.
The group of people in the room watched in awe as the big vampire burst from the peach-coloured light, and fell directly into the net that Spike had cast. It writhed around him, completely surrounding him as he began to struggle, and then... it began to sink into him... It looked as though the vampire's body was absorbing it. Finally, it was completely gone, leaving a very confused looking Angelus standing in front of them.
"What the hell was that?" the dark haired vampire said.
"That, Angelus," Lucinda said, almost sounding amused, "Was your balancing." She turned away from him as if she'd lost all interest and returned to Matthias, who was still laying on the floor, although at this point, he had a very concerned and relieved Seer by his side.
Angelus just looked at her as she walked away from him, his eyes following her direction until he saw the very pale, but obviously awake and breathing, person she was going to. He didn't blame her a bit. "So... it worked?" He grinned foolishly as he was suddenly attacked by a small redhead and a large blond. He wrapped his arms around them, sighing happily. "I'll take that as a 'Yes'," he laughed, then suddenly stopped as he noticed something... wrong. "Spike," he said warily, "What happened... you're... warm!"
Spike sighed in turn. "Yeah, I know, Sire... but, no heartbeat..." He tried to smile winningly at the larger man, but failed as he saw Angelus' nose twitch slightly.
"What happened?" Angelus said again, growling this time as he saw the drying blood around the almost completely healed wounds on his favourite childe's arms. It looked like someone had tried to remove the boy's veins. "Who did this?" he demanded angrily, knowing he was going to have to kill someone for hurting his love like that.
Willow couldn't stand the way he sounded... he didn't understand. Of course, no one had explained it to him yet, so... She reached up and placed her hand on his cheek, turning his face to her. "Calm down, love," she said, softly carressing the ridges that had emerged on his forehead. "It was necessary..." She pulled his still angry face down to hers, pressing a soft kiss on his lips while her other hand reached out for Spike's. "Matthias would have died, he didn't have enough blood," she told him quietly, "So Spike offered his to make up the difference." She glanced at the blond, smiling into his eyes. "It's almost completely healed, too, so you can just stop with the growl-y face, Mister!"
Angelus sighed, looking at the blond now. "You... you did that for me? Bled? Spike..."
Spike grimaced slightly. "Well... yeah. But I mostly did it for him," he said, gesturing at the young man on the floor. "I couldn't just let him die... not after he went and took care of the damned chip for me. I owed him!"
The dark haired vampire blinked a few times. "OK... there's obviously more going on here than I know about, and you'll have to tell me everything... later!" He commanded, as both his lovers began speaking at once. "Right now, what I need to know is... why are you warm?" he directed to his childe, "And is it... dangerous?" Their eyes flew to the man on the floor as his voice interrupted what Angelus had thought was a quiet conversation.
"I can answer that," Matthias said softly, glad that he could finally speak above a whisper. "It's because of the power..." He looked at Spike and motioned him over, grinning as Angelus and Willow accompanied him. "It ran through you... tried to make itself at home." His voice was getting stronger now. "And you almost let it! It... changed you a bit... and left a part of itself behind for some reason. Maybe because you're a vampire, I don't know... but it's in you, I can feel it!" He grunted slightly as he raised himself to a sitting position, ignoring the protests of Cordelia and Lucinda. "I'm fine," he finally snapped irritably, "I'm even all healed up, even if I don't know how..." His eyes were drawn to the suddenly too innocent expression on the blond vamp's face. He sighed deeply. "All right, Spike. What did you do?"
Spike tried for a moment to pull off the 'who, me?' look, but swiftly realized that no one was buying it. "Oh, all right... when Luce said to picture Poofy here all balanced and shit, I figured that I might as well picture you all healed while I was at it... What?" he demanded as everyone in the room gaped at him, "I owed the boy! Besides, I don't think Broody would have been too pleased if I'd let the lad die..."
Angelus grinned at his childe's words before mock-growling at him. "You'd better watch that smart mouth of yours, boy... I may be in balance, but that doesn't mean I can't still kick your sorry bleached ass!" He removed all possible threat from the comment immediately, however, by pulling the blond into a tight hug. Spike never changed... or at least... "But why is he... warm? Is it... is it permanent?" he said, speaking over Spike's shoulder... it was an interesting sensation, but he wasn't sure if it was something he wanted to get used to.
Matthias grinned, having finally won the right to sit up on his own. "No. It's not permanent, but... OK," he said, seeing the trepidation in Angelus' eyes, "The power. Like I said, it left some of itself in him... well, it needs to be... used, and right now... well, right now, Spike doesn't know how to use it, so it's just sitting in there..." He gestured mildly at the blond. "And it's... growing, a little bit at a time. So until he learns to use it..."
Willow was the one who got it first. "Until he does, he'll just keep getting warmer?" She turned excitedly to her vampires. "It's... it's like... keeping a fire burning in a closed room... the fire keeps being fed, and the heat keeps building up... it never stops! But if you open a window, and the heat has somewhere to go..." She smiled brightly as her two men nodded their understanding, her smile becoming even more brilliant as they simultaneously pulled her into their embrace.
Matthias almost laughed at the happy picture they made, but refrained as he cleared his throat, bringing their attention back to him. "Willow's right... that's exactly what's happening. The power is building within you, Spike." He fixed his eyes on those of the blond. "You're going to need to be trained."
Spike stared back at the young man before him. "What are you saying, mate..." he said slowly, hoping against hope that he had somehow misunderstood... Willow was the witch in their little family... Willow, not him!
Matthias finally had to laugh at the look in Spike's eyes. "I think you know exactly what I'm saying..." He chuckled again, almost feeling sorry for the blond. "It looks like Willow's not the only one in your little family who's going to need magic lessons!"
Spike glared at the laughing boy. "Oh, great," he muttered, mostly to himself, "It's not bad enough that I'm in love with my poof of a Sire, and a human witch, but now I have to go back to school... Way to be the Big Bad, Spike... Gonna be the laughing-stock of the Underworld, you are!" He growled at all of them as everyone, even Ripper, began to laugh long and hard at his muttered comment... The power inside him must have messed him up more than he'd thought if he'd actually spoken loudly enough for them to hear him... Sodding power... His growls tapered off as he felt the hands of both his witch and his Sire roaming over his back, and he began to see the humor in the situation... The biggest, baddest vampire on the whole damned block was going back to school... with a little mostly-human witch... so that he could become a witch himself... He grinned a bit as he came to a decision. No matter what anyone said, he wouldn't call himself a witch... not ever! He would be a warlock!
~Part: 52~
< Sunnydale>
Rocko stared down anxiously at the small blonde girl laying so still on the bed. He knew that his Sunshine was going to be angry when she woke up, but... he hadn't really had any choice! In any case, he was the one who should be angry with her! He'd told her and told her that she shouldn't have her fucking orgies if he wasn't there to keep the minions in line, and sure enough, the one time he'd been out, she just had to go and invite all seven of her favourites to have a go at her... He sighed, glad that he'd returned when he had. He'd been out hunting, but something just hadn't felt right, so he'd rushed back to the lair, only to find his girl... his Slayer... He shook his head, not wanting to remember the position he'd found her in. It was bad enough that he'd have to always remember the sight of her, laying there in a pool of her own blood, covered head to toe with the cold, dead semen of his former minions... He didn't want to think about the wounds in her abdomen, most of which were still slowly oozing a combination of blood and that same dead seed from the vampires fucking her there...
He shuddered intensely for a moment. The girl had been almost dead from the cuts, and the amazing number of bites she'd received, but her lips had still been moving slightly. He'd broken the necks of every single vamp that had done this to her, and finally slipped down beside her on the bed, placing his ear close to her mouth to hear what she was saying. His anger had only intensified when he'd heard her barely audible voice muttering 'More... more...", in fact, he'd been so angry that he'd almost let her lay there and die... But, she was his Sunshine, and now... now she would always be his. Forever.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Artera grimaced, the expression making her face look even more terrifying than it usually did. She was getting tired of seeing the almost endless procession of demons entering and leaving the back room of Willie's Bar, and the moans and grunts of both pain and pleasure that were coming from the big dumb human in that same room had stopped being amusing hours earlier. She could understand that her demonic brethren wanted to get their own back in the form of fucking the poor boy stupid, but enough was enough! Finally, she just couldn't take it anymore, and she leaned over the bar. "Willie!" she said sharply, her large orange eyes beginning to glow, "This isn't funny anymore. Let the human go!"
Willie looked at the Amphora demon in shock for a moment. "But... hell, Artera, I'm not holding him prisoner or anything! He can leave any time he wants!" He tried to subtly wave away the latest demon who was approaching to pay him for his time with 'Agent Lilac'... after all, better to lost twenty bucks than his head... and judging from the throbbing green veins in Artera's wings, that was swiftly becoming a possibility!
"Yes?" the demon hissed, baring her teeth, "Well, I think he wants to leave now!" She could hear the human boy's whimpers increasing, and remembered exactly how... endowed... the variety of demon that was with him at the moment actually was. "That," she said harshly, gesturing towards the closed door, "Is the last one, Willie, do you understand?"
Willie could feel himself becoming light-headed at the thought of telling all the other demons on his list that they wouldn't get their turn, and knew that he was turning even paler than usual as he tried frantically to dissuade her. "But... but Artera... the list..." He waved the clipboard in her face, swallowing hard as she struck it from his hand, her claws barely missing his skin.
"No!" she roared, turning to face the crowd in the bar. "The human boy is mine!" she announced loudly. "None of you will touch him again!" She nodded her satisfaction when none of them tried to argue... of course, they knew better than to disagree with an Amphora demon in a snit... she could kill the lot of them without even blinking!
Artera settled back down on her bar stool, waiting for the last 'friend' of Agent Lilac's to finish his 'business', and once she heard the tell-tale yowl-hiss-cough of his release, walked slowly to the back room door. She nodded at the eight foot tall blue creature as he ducked through the doorway, and she entered the room for the first time.
Her eyes took in the sight of the human almost laying on the floor with the shreds of what had once been his pants hanging around his ankles. He didn't look at all comfortable with the case of beer under his hips, and legs spread wide... of course, the multicolored pool of semen he was kneeling in couldn't have been pleasant, either. She watched, fascinated, as the latest addition to the rainbow of cum dripped viscously down his legs.
Riley Finn could feel the presence behind him, and gritted his teeth. He'd wanted to make friends with the demons he'd wronged before, sure, but... he hadn't known, when he agreed to do whatever was necessary, that he'd end up being fucked, repeatedly, with the biggest cocks he'd ever come across... He'd once thought that he knew what huge was, but... now he knew even better! Forrest, Graham, hell, even Martinez... none of them had ever filled him the way he'd been filled in this tiny, dirty room... and he'd never enjoyed it as much, but... the last twenty or so had just been... painful! "No..." he moaned, clenching his jaw and squeezing his eyes shut, "No more..."
Artera sighed, moving around to the boy's front. "Don't worry, boy. You belong to me, now. Get up." She watched, almost laughing as the lumbering moron tried to rise from knees that had been pressed into the cement for more than twelve hours. "Clean yourself up," she ordered, throwing him a towel from atop one of the beer kegs, "I'll get you something to wear."
Riley struggled to rise, finally succeeding, even though his knees felt like they'd been crushed with a sledge-hammer. He had been somewhat surprised when the grey, winged demon he'd been talking to earlier said that he was... hers?... his? Whatever... but at least now, he'd only have one demon to satisfy... He frowned for a moment before brightening... maybe it would share him with its friends? He sighed to himself as he began to wipe the cum from his thighs, wincing when he came into contact with his abused anus... he was sure that he'd never been fucked so much or so hard in all his life... not even at the little 'parties' he'd had with his now dead friends... and he knew for a fact that he'd never cum so many times before. His eyes flew to the door as he tensed, then relaxed, seeing that it was his new owner with the promised clothing.
"Put these on, boy," Artera said lightly, throwing a small pair of shorts at him. She waited until he'd somehow managed to force himself into them, and almost laughed when he had to lie down in order to zip them up. "Now, follow me, boy... I'm taking you home." She began to leave the room, looking back at him when he didn't move. "What?"
Riley dropped his gaze before speaking timidly. "Uh... I'm sorry, but... I know your name is Artera, but... are you going to do... that to me, too?" He tried to keep the hopeful tone from his voice, but was pretty sure he'd failed when the big grey demon laughed.
"Only when I'm in my male phase, boy. And when I am," she growled out, looking him up and down, "You'll find out what a really big cock is! But don't worry," she continued, amused by the look of both anticipation and fear in his eyes, "I'll give you time to heal after I fuck you the first time..." She gestured him forward, smiling when he stepped up and took her outstretched hand. "The rest of the time, I'll expect you to pleasure me, though... I like a good, hard fuck when I'm in my female phase... Think you can make me hurt, boy?" She pulled him from the back room and through the bar without waiting for an answer.
Willie watched as Artera dragged Agent Lilac from his bar. "Poor kid," he said softly, well aware of the future the boy had in store for him... it would have been kinder to leave him in the back room.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
~~~~~~~ LUCINDA~~~~~~~
I watched them that day. I watched as Angelus, who used to be my Angelus, and before that was my Liam, finally understood that he was in balance... for good. As dear William, who was calling himself Spike, discovered that his future had changed in the blink of an eye... as the little redhead, Willow, realized that she would have her men for the rest of her life, and that that life would be much longer than she'd originally thought. I watched my son and the Seer, seeing their hearts and souls moving closer together, and felt a good deal of satisfaction in the knowledge that they would soon be one... they would be happy, and make each other more complete than they'd ever known was possible... And I was happy for them all.
I spent my last four days in the mortal realm watching them, slowly withdrawing myself from their conversations, distancing myself from them more, moment by moment, until they barely realized that I was even there... it would be easier for them all, that way... I think the only one who realized it was Ripper, but he had always been quite the bright boy.
Finally, the time came, and I left them there, to live their lives and be happy, while I came here... home. Funny, that... I haven't really thought of this as home since the day I first left, only weeks before I first met my Liam... But I don't regret it... any of it! I will carry the memories within my heart and mind forever. The way he smiled at me the first time we met... how the sun warmed his eyes, and burnished his skin to a lovely golden hue... his hair falling in a curtain of pure silk around me the first time he kissed me, in his neighbour's barn... the smooth, taut skin of his chest... his arms, hands, lips... his very touch was like the finest wine, and was equally addictive... I miss him still.
I remember everything about him... everything. He was my heart, my life, my reason for drawing breath... my reason for desiring death when I thought that it had taken him... I remember the long, angry years, when I cursed the gods for allowing it... and the way I felt, watching my son... our son... grow to be more like him with every passing day... not in looks, particularly, although there was something of Liam about him... but in mood, attitude, even the curious tilt of his head-- he was my love all over again... or he was until my gods-be-damned family got their hands on him... but Matthias was always a strong one, and I was never disappointed in him.
I remember the shock I felt when I first saw him in London, over a hundred years later... Angelus, he was then... but he was still my Liam, or at least he was to me... Even with the long nights of torment and blood-play, I yearned for him... I never stopped. And then, I left him... again... I don't know what he must have been thinking, and I don't want to know... it doesn't matter now. Now, he has Willow... and Spike.
Ah, Spike... what can I say about dear William? When I first knew him, he was very young, and hadn't quite figured out what he was... or what he wanted to be. He was always a sweet boy, though, even if he was completely under his Sire's thumb. He's changed since then, of course... but there will always be a part of him, deep down inside, that is my dear, sweet Will... no matter how much he may want to deny it.
I miss them both.
I watch them from time to time, in the damned scrying glass. Time moves differently here, much more slowly than it does in the mortal world, and much, much slower than it ever did in my little pocket dimension. I was watching when Willow and Spike began training with Matthias... saw them struggle, every small failure becoming enormous in their eyes, while they almost ignored their monumental successes... Spike actually mastered the magics before the redhead did, and I think that that bothered her a bit, because she threw herself into her studies as though the devil himself were after her... and maybe he was, I wouldn't know about that... Unlike the cousins, I don't claim to know everything. But I do know that Angelus and Spike will have their witch for quite a few centuries to come. Maybe that was what made her try so hard... if so, it worked well for her, seeing as she mastered the spells to lengthen her life in just under five years. She is strong in the magics of my people. Very strong... I wonder, sometimes, just which of my people made her ancestor, and although I will most likely never know for certain, I have my suspicions. My father didn't always feel as he does now about inter-species relations... and he was away an awful lot during the time in question... And while I've never actually caught him at my scrying glass, I know that I've smelled him in the air on occasion...
I was right about Matthias and the Seer. I don't look in on them very often, mostly because there are just certain things a mother doesn't want to know about her child, and quite frankly, most of their time together is spent doing things I really don't want to watch... I only check up on them often enough to be sure they're happy. They're both working with Angelus at his investigation agency, as are Willow, Spike and Mykl.
Yes, I told Mykl to stay. I knew that he wanted to, and he had been so very loyal for so many years... he deserved to get what he wanted for once. His former shield-brothers, on the other hand, have not fared so well. They were called before the Council of Elders when we returned home, and although I'm sure they wanted to, they were unable to explain why they'd disregarded their binding to me... or even how! The only thing they did say was that they were under orders. They would not name the one who had ordered them, but once again, I have my suspicions... My father performed the binding, after all.
I try to stay away from the scrying glass as much as I can, but it's a necessary tool for my position... and every time I have to use it, I find myself at some point looking in on my love... I'm glad that he's happy, with his witch and his childe, and I would never even think of interfering with that. I may well love him still... I know I do, but... Willow is, regardless of her magics, mortal. She will be much longer-lived than most, but... one day, centuries from now, she will be gone... and I will be waiting.
Even if it should take forever, I can wait... I can wait... after all, I have eternity...
End