From Beneath You It Devours
By: I am Shinigami
There he stood, platinum hair gleaming in the low lights of the Hyperion. None of the humans gathered in the lobby had noticed him, the tall brunette talked animatedly about her upcoming audition while the others nodded while exchanging looks of bewildered amusement amongst themselves. As Cordelia gestured towards the door, a worried expression on her face as she realized that Angel had not yet returned. The others looked and finally saw the man that stood in the shadows, a cigarette dangling carelessly from his mouth. Wesley and Cordelia exchanged looks of apprehension when they realized who they were looking at, Spike.
At that moment Angel himself walked through the double doors and paused, sniffing the air delicately. He turned slowly and stared, his expression impassive. And then the tense silence was interrupted by a loud laugh from Spike. "Well mate, I guess ye never ex'pected a fam'ly visit.did ye ponce?" The desperation in his voice belied the casual, bitingly familiar words. His face was gaunt with black shadows under his eyes, the black duster not quite concealing the unusual hollowness of his angular body. It was then that Angel recognized the scent that was haunting him, his Favored Childe's blood, the enticing scent that he hadn't smelt in over a century.
Angel stalked towards him, almost shaking in rage as he tore away the leather duster and saw the wounds that covered Spike's torso. Every surface had been marked; burns, lashes, dark bruises, deep and messy strips of flesh cut from his body. Another bitter laugh rang throughout the room, even as the humans gasped at his abused body. Spike jerked away from Angel's grip and wandered deeper into the shadows, the group looked at each other uncertainly. Gunn and Fred not understanding how their friends knew this broken.thing.
Angel pulled out his cell and called the Karaoke bar, he needed the Host to figure out what was wrong with his William. It was obvious someone had tortured W.Spike but he wasn't going to rest until he found out why. Although he had denied it Angel was Spike's Sire, and had always thought of Spike as his. Despite what the Scooby gang had believed he had never thought of his William as an enemy, he had tried desperately to deny their bond. Blood calling to blood, Childe to Sire, everything right in the world and his life.
It was true that he regretted siring Drusilla and Penn, but never his William; Angelus had changed his other childers's lives so much before turning them, but not so with William. William had been wild and unconcerned with morality even as a human; he'd stalked the night as a thief and had never been considered prey, even by demons and vampires. Angelus had heard of the highwayman during a trip to Northern London and decided to claim him. After months of cat and mouse; power constantly shifting between them, William had finally acknowledged their.relationship and bared his neck.
Angelus had not let him go since, holding him in his arms until Will Woke from his death. That night they had celebrated with blood and sex, killing mercilessly and fucking in their victims blood. He had never tired of his Childe, revering him and letting his Favored drink up his blood every night after feeding. And when his Sire, Darla tried to get between them he had made sure to clarify her misconception and he had delighted in her hoarse screams for weeks as he tortured and starved her, taking care not to touch her in any way. After that, it had been just him and Will, often Drusilla would come to watch them and later they would tell her stories.
She was their pretty kitten, their broken toy. Their own personal Miss Edith, they both valued her visions as they had saved the 'family' many times from mobs and hunters. The 'love' that the Watchers I their diaries documented was nonexistent, it was in fact a manufactured lie that Angelus had used to fool the Watcher's Council in order to make William less of a target. Should the Council ever be foolish enough to try and harm his Childer.
Angel contemplated this even as the door burst open and the Host entered, his green face stretched into a happy smile. "So where is this boy I'm supposed to read, eh sweetcakes?" Angel shook his head ruefully at the nickname but grinned faintly as he pointed in the general direction of where Spike was hiding. The Host frowned and called out jovially, "Heeeey, anybody hooome?"
A muffled snort sounded form behind him and he turned to face a blond man dressed entirely in black that was staring at him, looking vaguely shocked. Then he grabbed his head as he fell forward, swearing unintelligibly. Angel rushed over to catch him just as he was about to hit the ground; he cradled his boy delicately, being careful to avoid the wounds. "Killed ye, must have, Host. Too much bloody Daniels messes up a bloke's mind!" His ramblings made the others stare at him wondering how he knew about the Host and what the hell else he was talking about.
"Sing for me baby," the Host crooned. He was desperate to find some answers and to help end the agony this man seemed to going through. "Sing, ye want me to bloody sing? What the bleeding hell do they feed ye in LA, ye great poof?" The demon smiled wryly at the half-hearted insult and placed a hand on the platinum hair, almost petting the soft deceptively soft strands. "Anything you want babycakes.no not punk, something slow."
Spike coughed, choking as he tried to breathe before realizing it wasn't necessary. Breathing was something he did to try to calm himself, to give himself some semblance of control but even that wasn't working. It didn't matter in the end Spike reasoned, he might as well humor the bloke, he couldn't quite remember what he had said before but that seemed to be happening a lot lately so it was easy to ignore his unease and just concentrate on a song. "I can't stand to fly I'm not that naive I'm just out to find a better part of me I'm more than a bird I'm more than a plane I'm more than just a pretty face beside a train."
His voice trailed away and Spike relaxed into his Sire's embrace, loosing touch with reality once again. "Sire, it hurts to see things like this. Dru used to see things, have visions or whatnot, remember when Dru would look up at the sky and see cherubs burning and the Heavens bleeding? I would look at her and think she was com'pletely mad but then she would see the sky when we were inside and I laughed cuz she was so bleeding happy. Now.all I bleeding see or hear is mad, my demon raging in me, do ye know what I see Sire? .From beneath you it devours."
Angel's face was a mask of darkness and pain as he contemplated vengeance for his Childe. Soul or not, Will was HIS, not someone else's toy and Will would not be used by anyone. Not even the Powers that Be or the Slayer could interfere without fear of retribution and penance. The Host watched as the soul slipped away and Angelus awoke, he decided now might be a good time to explain what he saw and damn the consequences.
"Basicly Angelus." At the vampire's carefully controlled look he grinned faintly, he was glad Angel or 'Angelus was free. A soul was too much of a burden for a vampire and it had been, literally, 'devouring' Angel from the inside out. And he could tell that unlike what everyone seemed to think, that this Angelus wasn't crazy he just liked chaos and death. Much like every pure vampire, those that weren't tainted by human morality, society and of course, limitations.
"Well as I was saying before.Your William was beaten up by a demon in Africa because he tried to get a soul for his idiot Sire. Stop growling, your souled half isn't exactly involved in anything not clearly labeled 'redemption,' anyway that failed even after he won his battles. Then he returned to some.Hellmouth?
The Slayer must have knocked him up a bit, okay a lot, a Key helped him escape to get to you. Anyway this gang seemed to think that little Willy here was responsible for 'Buffy' getting killed by Glorificus and after her subsequent ressurection Buffy, Ripper and Xander tried getting even. I don't even understand half this stuff because it's coming straight out of his mind but it seems three of them helped him. Red, Nibblit and Anyanka? Yeah that seems right.you should feed him and get your humans out of here unless they want to help."
There he stood, platinum hair gleaming in the low lights of the Hyperion. None of the humans gathered in the lobby had noticed him, the tall brunette talked animatedly about her upcoming audition while the others nodded while exchanging looks of bewildered amusement amongst themselves. As Cordelia gestured towards the door, a worried expression on her face as she realized that Angel had not yet returned. The others looked and finally saw the man that stood in the shadows, a cigarette dangling carelessly from his mouth. Wesley and Cordelia exchanged looks of apprehension when they realized who they were looking at, Spike.
At that moment Angel himself walked through the double doors and paused, sniffing the air delicately. He turned slowly and stared, his expression impassive. And then the tense silence was interrupted by a loud laugh from Spike. "Well mate, I guess ye never ex'pected a fam'ly visit.did ye ponce?" The desperation in his voice belied the casual, bitingly familiar words. His face was gaunt with black shadows under his eyes, the black duster not quite concealing the unusual hollowness of his angular body. It was then that Angel recognized the scent that was haunting him, his Favored Childe's blood, the enticing scent that he hadn't smelt in over a century.
Angel stalked towards him, almost shaking in rage as he tore away the leather duster and saw the wounds that covered Spike's torso. Every surface had been marked; burns, lashes, dark bruises, deep and messy strips of flesh cut from his body. Another bitter laugh rang throughout the room, even as the humans gasped at his abused body. Spike jerked away from Angel's grip and wandered deeper into the shadows, the group looked at each other uncertainly. Gunn and Fred not understanding how their friends knew this broken.thing.
Angel pulled out his cell and called the Karaoke bar, he needed the Host to figure out what was wrong with his William. It was obvious someone had tortured W.Spike but he wasn't going to rest until he found out why. Although he had denied it Angel was Spike's Sire, and had always thought of Spike as his. Despite what the Scooby gang had believed he had never thought of his William as an enemy, he had tried desperately to deny their bond. Blood calling to blood, Childe to Sire, everything right in the world and his life.
It was true that he regretted siring Drusilla and Penn, but never his William; Angelus had changed his other childers's lives so much before turning them, but not so with William. William had been wild and unconcerned with morality even as a human; he'd stalked the night as a thief and had never been considered prey, even by demons and vampires. Angelus had heard of the highwayman during a trip to Northern London and decided to claim him. After months of cat and mouse; power constantly shifting between them, William had finally acknowledged their.relationship and bared his neck.
Angelus had not let him go since, holding him in his arms until Will Woke from his death. That night they had celebrated with blood and sex, killing mercilessly and fucking in their victims blood. He had never tired of his Childe, revering him and letting his Favored drink up his blood every night after feeding. And when his Sire, Darla tried to get between them he had made sure to clarify her misconception and he had delighted in her hoarse screams for weeks as he tortured and starved her, taking care not to touch her in any way. After that, it had been just him and Will, often Drusilla would come to watch them and later they would tell her stories.
She was their pretty kitten, their broken toy. Their own personal Miss Edith, they both valued her visions as they had saved the 'family' many times from mobs and hunters. The 'love' that the Watchers I their diaries documented was nonexistent, it was in fact a manufactured lie that Angelus had used to fool the Watcher's Council in order to make William less of a target. Should the Council ever be foolish enough to try and harm his Childer.
Angel contemplated this even as the door burst open and the Host entered, his green face stretched into a happy smile. "So where is this boy I'm supposed to read, eh sweetcakes?" Angel shook his head ruefully at the nickname but grinned faintly as he pointed in the general direction of where Spike was hiding. The Host frowned and called out jovially, "Heeeey, anybody hooome?"
A muffled snort sounded form behind him and he turned to face a blond man dressed entirely in black that was staring at him, looking vaguely shocked. Then he grabbed his head as he fell forward, swearing unintelligibly. Angel rushed over to catch him just as he was about to hit the ground; he cradled his boy delicately, being careful to avoid the wounds. "Killed ye, must have, Host. Too much bloody Daniels messes up a bloke's mind!" His ramblings made the others stare at him wondering how he knew about the Host and what the hell else he was talking about.
"Sing for me baby," the Host crooned. He was desperate to find some answers and to help end the agony this man seemed to going through. "Sing, ye want me to bloody sing? What the bleeding hell do they feed ye in LA, ye great poof?" The demon smiled wryly at the half-hearted insult and placed a hand on the platinum hair, almost petting the soft deceptively soft strands. "Anything you want babycakes.no not punk, something slow."
Spike coughed, choking as he tried to breathe before realizing it wasn't necessary. Breathing was something he did to try to calm himself, to give himself some semblance of control but even that wasn't working. It didn't matter in the end Spike reasoned, he might as well humor the bloke, he couldn't quite remember what he had said before but that seemed to be happening a lot lately so it was easy to ignore his unease and just concentrate on a song. "I can't stand to fly I'm not that naive I'm just out to find a better part of me I'm more than a bird I'm more than a plane I'm more than just a pretty face beside a train."
His voice trailed away and Spike relaxed into his Sire's embrace, loosing touch with reality once again. "Sire, it hurts to see things like this. Dru used to see things, have visions or whatnot, remember when Dru would look up at the sky and see cherubs burning and the Heavens bleeding? I would look at her and think she was com'pletely mad but then she would see the sky when we were inside and I laughed cuz she was so bleeding happy. Now.all I bleeding see or hear is mad, my demon raging in me, do ye know what I see Sire? .From beneath you it devours."
Angel's face was a mask of darkness and pain as he contemplated vengeance for his Childe. Soul or not, Will was HIS, not someone else's toy and Will would not be used by anyone. Not even the Powers that Be or the Slayer could interfere without fear of retribution and penance. The Host watched as the soul slipped away and Angelus awoke, he decided now might be a good time to explain what he saw and damn the consequences.
"Basicly Angelus." At the vampire's carefully controlled look he grinned faintly, he was glad Angel or 'Angelus was free. A soul was too much of a burden for a vampire and it had been, literally, 'devouring' Angel from the inside out. And he could tell that unlike what everyone seemed to think, that this Angelus wasn't crazy he just liked chaos and death. Much like every pure vampire, those that weren't tainted by human morality, society and of course, limitations.
"Well as I was saying before.Your William was beaten up by a demon in Africa because he tried to get a soul for his idiot Sire. Stop growling, your souled half isn't exactly involved in anything not clearly labeled 'redemption,' anyway that failed even after he won his battles. Then he returned to some.Hellmouth?
The Slayer must have knocked him up a bit, okay a lot, a Key helped him escape to get to you. Anyway this gang seemed to think that little Willy here was responsible for 'Buffy' getting killed by Glorificus and after her subsequent ressurection Buffy, Ripper and Xander tried getting even. I don't even understand half this stuff because it's coming straight out of his mind but it seems three of them helped him. Red, Nibblit and Anyanka? Yeah that seems right.you should feed him and get your humans out of here unless they want to help."