Chemical steam gushed from the cauldron as Willow thrust the athame into the brewing potion. She pulled it back out and watched as a thin veneer of red energy asserted itself over the ceremonial knife.
She turned to the naked and chained Angelus. The witch silently thanked the Goddess that the shackles were still a part of the decor at the Crawford Street mansion, otherwise this ritual would have been way more difficult. If he woke up from the sleeping enchantment prematurely, things could get kinda hairy.
Her hand shaking, she inched the blade towards his inner thigh. The tip pressed against the flesh. Willow swallowed hard and then applied the necessary pressure to open a wound. Slowly and unsteadily, she carved a stylized W in his skin, a branding essential to the ceremony.
She drew the knife away the moment she finished the last leg of the symbol and cautiously scurried back to safety. The next part of the control ritual was a little involved, and not something that needed to be interrupted by a prematurely aware, recently unsouled vampire.
Angelus's blood ran down the length of the athame. Willow made a face and then licked the plasma off, forcing herself not to puke as she swallowed it.
Nothing happened.
"Well, phoo-"
A red beam shot from the symbol on Angelus's thigh and right at Willow's heart. She felt a wrenching inside, as if her essence was being twisted out of her body, and then she blacked out.
She came to long after Angelus did. He was sitting, calmly across the room from her, his finger tracing the brand she'd given him.
"The Equalitrus. Interesting choice, Wil. Don't you think you're a little young to be playing with those advanced magicks, though? Bet that girlfriend of yours would have such a fit."
Willow pushed herself up from the ground. "You know about it? The Equalitrus?"
"Know about it? Let's see. Originally conceived by the dark mage Bardibus in 1789 as a tool to keep his whelps in line so they would never rise up and unseat him from power. Forms a connection between the caster and the, uh, marked which allows access and control in a weaker mind. Built for humans, though, and never used on vampires before. But I'm sure you knew that."
"Uh... yeah," Willow postured. "I know all about it, and I'm not afraid of you. I'm a powerful wicca, and, uh, you're goin' down, buster."
"Yeah." Angelus stood up and let his imposing shadow loom over the redhead. "This is me, afraid of you."
"Sit down."
Angelus sat down on the cold stone floor.
"See? Easy peasy."
Angelus sneered. "That? I wanted to sit down. I'm not going to not sit down just to prove something to you."
Willow grinned at her enemy. "Uh-huh. Stick out your tongue."
Angelus did.
"Yeah, you're in control of the situation," Willow said with a smirk. "Now, I'm gonna come over their and undo your chains. No biting or any kinda violence, okay?"
She walked over to the seated vampire and fiddled with the locks. Angelus bristled, but didn't make a move towards her. Even completely unfettered, he simply glared.
"Stand up." Willow watched his obedience and allowed herself a tiny grin. "It's kinda funny, really. There you are, former scourgey guy, and here I am, former meek and mindful, and you're doin' every little thing I say. You're like a big ol' puppy."
"Former?" Angelus asked. "Seems like chaining me in didn't take that much. You're still little miss sidekick, backing up a Slayer who couldn't even live long enough to save you from me."
Willow's hand flew against Angelus's cheek with a percussive smack. "I saved myself. I didn't need her!"
"Hey, who did? Soulboy's grief about her moronic sacrifice turned to relief after five seconds. He was so happy he lost his soul..."
"That's. Not. True."
"Maybe it isn't. Maybe it is," Angelus said. "You'll never find out just how worthless that Slayer was to him."
Willow's fixed a steely glare at the vampire. "You can leave Buffy out of this from here on out. Now get dressed. I'm taking you patrolling."
The reasoning, she tried to explain to Xander, had been pretty simple. As fond as she was of Angel, the tenuous grasp he had on his soul left him a liability. Some little nudge of perfect happiness would pop up, and oops, there goes the champion, here comes the badness.
Better, she said, to have the devil you know under your thumb - at least until she could figure out a way to restore Angel's soul without any of those pesky loopholes.
Giles was the first to point out the sheer arrogance of her move, but not the last. They all staged an intervention, tried to get her to see reason and resoul Angelus or stake him. Spike came down against her, arguing for Dawn's safety. Xander was afraid for her. Tara was appalled at the move, and promised to leave if she continued her abuse of Angelus's mind.
Willow had defended herself, pointing out that controlling an evil monster like Angelus was a first step in shoring up the post-Buffy Scooby defenses. She made a long speech on the effectiveness of magic, and how they could use the enemy's power against itself. When Giles started coarsely lecturing about her "dangerous naiveté", she threw up her hand and cast a Silence hex on the room. She told them, in measured tones, that she would continue as she had been, despite their protestations, and that anybody who stood in her way would find themselves in a very unpleasant situation.
Then, she left, and headed back to the mansion on Crawford Street.
It had been months since Angelus had last protested her. He seemed to be settling into his role of second-in-command very well, and Willow even found herself trusting his judgment on occasion. All it took was a little coaxing and some very powerful suggestions, and the spell became more effective than a military chip in the head for keeping a once-dangerous vampire in a defanged way.
She had eventually worked out a spell that could gain the control of a number of different targets at once, one that didn't require the intimate carving and drinking rituals, but didn't afford quite the finesse of control that she had with her li'l Angelus. It didn't so much hit the brain as mystically overtake the body, but the result was acceptable. The vampires and demons under her power were brainless and needed very specific training in order to be of any use, but eventually, Willow had amassed an army in the dozens.
Every night, she and Angelus went patrolling with their own squad, rooting out the cemeteries. Most of the monsters they found would be dispatched, with a select few with useful talents or abilities turned to their side.
Willow began to see herself as the patron of the night, holding sway over everything happened in her town after sunset. She had her minions build her a balcony so she could look out over Sunnydale, vigilant, its protector...
One night, she was staring out from her almost royal vantage, when Angelus walked up beside her. She was actually a little shocked when he appeared suddenly; usually she could sense him coming.
"Beautiful night, isn't it?"
"Sure is. Did Bravo Team hit Wakefield yet?"
"On their way. Sent Discovery Team as back-up," Angelus said.
"Oh. Good." Willow nodded. After a bit - "So, whatcha up here for?"
"I came up here to thank you."
Another surprise. "Thank me?" Willow asked.
Angelus turned and flashed her a creepy grin. "Yeah. For the army. It's exactly what I need."
Something wasn't right here. "Angelus?"
He stretched dramatically, as if testing out new muscles. Then, he looked her directly in the eye. "Sit down."
Willow sat down on the ground. "Hey, wait..."
"Oh, and be quiet. I want to savor this."
Willow found herself not wanting to talk very much.
"The Equalitrus. Affects the brain, usually the will centers, but it's up to the caster. It's a good spell, if you're using it on a human. On a vampire, however..." He broke into a giddy, evil smirk. "Oh, I love this part, don't you? Where I lay out where you screwed up? Vampires. Our minds can't be read. There's no reflection. I figured that meant you wouldn't get any control - but what I found really fascinating was that your mind just opened up. I thought about your will center, but that wasn't any fun at all. But your inhibitions, your dreams, your self-righteous sense of heroism... I could just fiddle with those to my non-beating heart's desire.
"Not that I had to mess with much - you were already down a path. Gotta tell you, Willow. I really find what you've done pretty hot. You amassed the largest army of demons and vampires that I've ever seen, and you used it take over Sunnydale's nights. And you did it all with a soul." He adopted a singsong: "Golly, I'm such an evil bitch. Lookitme."
Willow just stared up at him, tears welling in puppy dog eyes.
"I had this whole seduction of the innocent plan worked out, but I got bored. Instead," he hoisted the redheaded witch up to her feet, "I'm just going to turn you. I wonder what you'd be like evil? I've got you pegged as more of a Darla, but who knows? Could turn out batshit crazy. Guess we'll find out." He morphed into his demonic visage. His fangs scraped against the skin of her neck before ripping the flesh open, allowing her blood to pour out for his hungry mouth to consume.
Willow felt the life draining from her, the slow coming of her own death. Her eyes rolled back into her head, and she barely noticed when she started weakly drinking up Angelus's blood from a cut in his chest. A darkness rose where her sense of life had once been. She found herself slipping under as something new took control.