Title: Sunshine

Author: pixs (zxiqlpixs@hotmail.com)

Rating: R

Disclaimer: Buffy/Angel characters belong to Joss. All hail.

Summary: William still remembers the feel of sunlight. Set maybe a year after he's turned. Bit of Angelus/William.

*****

They left her alone for a weekend. A simple little girl with brown hair and blue eyes. The farm help stayed out of the house. Not allowed, he said.

The chef and her nanny kept her company, kept her out of trouble. Was harmless for her to go out in the field. To pick flowers.

She wasn't allowed near the trees. There were caves. Violent animals sometimes nested there.

Wouldn't do for the precious little girl to get bit. The master of the house would be mad. Mad if a badger bit his daughter.

Angelus hated horses. Horses hated him in like. They stayed away from the cave we sat in. But we could see the house. Could see the barn. Could see the little girl running with yellow daisies and a yellow dress.

Yellow, like the sun.

I still wanted her. It had been too long since I had tasted the sun.

While Angelus rested, I crouched at the edge of the cave. I called out, a soft mew, like a kitten. The little girl heard. Like bottled sunshine. She ran toward me, following the sound of a kitten.

So innocent.

She stopped in front of the cave, standing in a patch of sunlight. She looked at me, blinked.

"Why are you in that cave? Aren't there animals in there?" Her little voice sounded as sweet as her blood smelled.

"Only animals in here are the kittens. The light hurts their eyes, so we have to wait until night to move them." I answered, speaking slowly and politely.

"You have kittens?" She put her hands behind her back, holding the daisies. She tried to peer into the cave, curious.

"Would you like to see them?" I stood up slowly.

"Oh yes, very much so." She moved closer, walking out of the sun and into the shadows in front of the entrance.

"By all means, come inside. If one likes you enough, you can take it home with you." I felt Angelus stir and wake behind me. "But be very quiet, my friend is sleeping."

Tiptoeing, the girl snuck in and moved toward the back. She carefully stepped over Angelus' legs. She seemed to glow, even in here.

"Where are they?" Quiet, not the slightest bit concerned.

"In the back, where its darkest." I followed her, bathing in the innocent aura surrounding her.

"Can one really live with me?"

"Oh yes. Forever. I could bring it up to your room. Would you like that?"

"Oh yes. That would be wonderful." She stopped, peering into the darkness. "Aren't they afraid of the dark?"

"Oh no. Kittens love to play in the dark."

Angelus silently shifted, sitting up to watch me and the child.

"Can I have one tonight?" She stood on tiptoe, a little dancer, trying to see further back without actually stepping closer.

"If my friend and I may visit you, of course you may have a kitten."

In the end, the simple lies are always what win.

"Oh yes, you both can come in and have tea with me. Mummy and Daddy will be back tomorrow, and they would be so happy if you brought me a kitten."

"This will be a wonderful little surprise for them." I snatched her up in my arms and then bit her tiny little neck. She tasted like sunshine. Warm grass. Everything I couldn't have.

Not allowed, he said.

Angel stood then, glaring at me for drinking first. But I didn't stop until she was drained enough that she wouldn't scream even without my hand over her tiny little mouth.

I handed her to him. "Kittens, mate."

He shook his head and finished the girl off. Even Angelus likes the taste of sunshine.

Near dusk the men started searching for the girl. We moved in the shadows of the woods, staying out of sight. Once night fell, we crept into the house, invited by out latest little victim. Up on the roof, through the tiny window in the attic. Angelus held the body in his arms.

We lounged in the attic all night. Angelus amused himself posing the girl while he listened to her name being shouted through the fields and woods.

I knew what he was plotting.

I shuffled though the old books. Diaries. Family tree. Nothing of interest. Not until morning.

Her parents arrived.

"Just wandered off... put the pie in the oven and she was gone... We looked everywhere..." Bits of conversation and sobbing floated up to us.

I lounged, smiling. The attic was warm and dark. The sun beat on the roof. It made Angelus nervous, though he wouldn't say. Told me I was too young to realize how vulnerable the sun made us.

I crawled over to him, lay down, and put my head in his lap. He stroked my hair until I drifted to sleep.

In my dreams I danced in the warm sun, surrounded by blood red daisies.

Angelus woke me when I drooled on his pants.

Night fell again. Angelus crawled out the window with the body again. I followed him with a spool of twine, and we entered the girl's bedroom.

We hung her against the wall, spread out in an embodiment of the sun. I lit a candle and positioned it so that she glowed. Angelus looked proud.

Art.

We opened the girl's bedroom door enough that the candle light could be seen, then left through the window. We moved into the cellar this time. So much wine.

By the time the screams started, I was drunk, stripped of my clothing from the waist down, and bent over a barrel while Angelus fucked me.

"Turning into such a fine man, William."

Sunshine threatened to eat me from the inside. So hot and beautiful.

We spent the next day in the cool damp of the cellar, resting to the sweet sounds of sobbing.

They burned the little girl. Someone recognized our bites.

Night came again, and I crept up to the main floor. The kitchen.

Angelus climbed back up to the second floor and the bedrooms.

The chef wasn't surprised when she saw me holding her knife. Thought I was there to help with the food for the mourning family and staff.

She wasn't even surprised when I cut her head off and put it in the oven.

Angelus caught the mistress, grieving in her daughter's bedroom. He painted the hall with her blood, then met me at the end of the stairs.

We both grinned at the crowd who had come to see what the screaming was. I had the knife and blood on my clothes. Angelus looked right proper.

The men lunged, enraged. We ripped. Shredded, drank, gorged.

Not a scratch. None escaped. We were too fast.

The master was last. Trembling in a corner by the fireplace.

Angelus grabbed his shirt. "Next time, you should teach your children not to talk to strangers." He smirked then threw him in the fire. Held him there long enough that he was engulfed in flames, then let him go.

Let him run though the house blindly, while we left and blocked the door. Angelus kissed me on the forehead. Proud. So proud.

I found a horse in the barn. It was calm. Peaceful, even around Angelus. I mounted, with Angelus behind me, and we rode toward the west while fire engulfed the estate.

It burned behind us like sunshine.