Welcome to Los Angelus (A Darkworld Tale)
By Philip S.
Summary: Los Angeles has fallen to the creatures of the night and Lord Angelus rules absolute. He has his own way of ensuring the loyalty of his flock.
Spoilers: This is an AU that branches off from canon Buffy in late Season 3. Spoilers up to that point.
Rating: R for language and mild torture
Pairing: B/Aus
Disclaimer: Buffy and associated characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. The concept of Darkworld belongs to Yours Truly.
--
Los Angelus, 2005
You want to know what it's like to have a soul?
It's like being in chains. Heavy iron chains slung around everything you are, dragging you down, cutting you off from all the things you really want to do. No, worse than that. You know what you want to do, you remember everything you had so much fun doing, but you can't do it anymore. Because you are chained by a conscience, dragged down by the weight of your soul.
A hundred years like that wasn't easy on me. So when that weight suddenly fell away, when the chains snapped without warning and I was free again, well ... I can admit it. I went insane. Insane with joy, insane with a hundred years of repressed want and need. It turned me into a certified madman and more than prepared to drown the entire world in fire if only it would extinguish every reminder of my time in chains.
Especially her. Especially that beautiful girl that gave me the first moment of true happiness since the chains wrapped tight around me, cutting me off from everything I had ever enjoyed. I wanted to destroy her, destroy the world that had spawned her.
What can I say? It was a phase I went through. And I paid for it.
Everything gets easier the second time around, though. My return to chains wasn't fun, but when they were lifted again I was in the right state of mind to make the most of it. Not a raving madman, not a brooding goody two-shoe, just me.
And these days, it's really good to be me.
--
Sunnydale, 1999
"Just for the record, Dick!" I turn around to look at him. Mayor Richard Wilkins III, who has fooled an entire town into thinking him a benevolent, fatherly guy. His mask is so perfect that he can't seem to shake it anymore, even now. "I want a piece of the cake."
"A piece?" He asks.
Faith has just left, preparing to go hunt down Buffy. She is looking forward to it, ever since she first came here. Wants to hurt the girl who has everything she never had. Poor Faith. Doesn't even suspect she won't get anything she wants tonight.
"I figured it out, Dick." I smile at him. "Just before your little pet here freed me from the soul. That little demon you had Faith gut told Buffy just enough to spark a memory with me. An Ascension. You're planing to become a big bad demon."
I walk toward him, putting my arm around his shoulders. "Somehow I can't imagine that, once that happens, you'll be content with this little town here, Hellmouth or not."
Wilkins smiles as well, but it's a guarded smile. Not quite as confident as you were just a second ago, are you, Dick?
"They all said you were clever, Angel. It seems our timing has been good then, freeing you before you could tell your friends all about it. I assume you had no time to tell them?"
"I got distracted by other things." There is some taste of Slayer left in my mouth. It's something you can never get enough of.
"Good! Now, what do you want, Angel?"
"Well, Dick!" I stroll behind his desk and slouch down in his chair. "I know you've quite a few of the local vampires under your thumb, but even you must realize that most of them are young idiots. Not one elder among them. To rally the powerful to your side you need a Master Vampire."
"Like you, I assume." Wilkins isn't happy that I'm in his chair.
"Like me. Once you ascend I'll help you, Dick. For a price."
The good-natured politician is gone. No need for the charade with me, Dick, glad to see you've finally grasped that.
"It could be useful to have a partner like you at my side, I give you that. What do you want in return for your help?"
I lean back, crossing my arms behind my head. "Just the bare necessities, you know? A home, a family, and, oh, one more thing."
I rise and we look at each other, eye to eye.
"You have your Slayer, Dick, and you can keep her. But Buffy is mine. Mine to do with as I please, mine to spare, mine to destroy. Her friends are mine as well, also her family. You will touch none of them and neither will Faith."
He looks at me a moment longer, then smiles again.
"Far be it from me to keep a man from his happiness. Though I'm afraid Faith will need some more convincing. You know how young people are these days, Angel."
"Oh, I know, Dick. I know."
"Then we have a deal, Angelus?"
He addresses me by my real name. We are no longer playing. Shaking his hand, I nod.
"We have indeed, Mr. Mayor. We have indeed."
--
Los Angelus, 2005
A home and a family, that was what I wanted. Old Dick probably guessed that I didn't mean a nice family home with a white picket fence and 2.4 children. Even then, when he still thought of me as little more than a useful tool to aid in his own plans, he knew me better than that.
I didn't order them to paint over the city signs. No, they did that all by themselves. Went around with buckets of red paint (the more imaginative ones used blood, at least) and crossed out the e, replacing it with u. It's their way of flattering me, I suppose. Turning Los Angeles into Los Angelus.
Kids these days.
Like I told Dick all those years ago, most vampires are mindless idiots. They will follow anyone with half a spine as long as he provides the meals. There are so few of us who actually do last longer than your average human, who don't fall prey to sunlight or an angry crowd before they've even gotten a taste of eternity.
They need a Master to pull through. A Master to tell them what to do. And I told them. While little Dick, all ascended and demony, was all occupied running roughshod over the good old US of A, I told them to get me a home.
Los Angeles did fine. Already taken over by Wilkins' people, one of the first places to fall prey to this new and unexpected war, it took nearly no effort to secure it for my own. And since I was already at it I thought to add San Francisco, San Diego, and a few other cities along the west coast for good measure.
No one thought of funny new names for any of them yet. I'm a little disappointed there.
By the time Dick realized that I'd taken some of his most prized conquests from him, it was too late. You see, funny thing about humans. Individually they are meat. Helpless little fools, amusing at best. But give them an easily recognizable external threat, something like a huge snake demon and his army of demonoids and assorted supernatural rabble, and suddenly you have millions of little fools banding together. That's when they stop being amusing.
Between the US Army on one side and me on the other, old Dick had no chance but to let me be. Oh, he did win his war, or at least most of the battles. There is only very little left of the States these days, saved from conquest by threat of nuclear retaliation. Everything between Los Angeles and the Mississippi Wall belongs to Wilkins.
I think Dick holds a grudge, though. He might even think of attacking me one of these days. He could probably win that battle, too. But it would cost him his empire for certain.
Enough about Dick! I have my home here in LA, a city that really grows on you after a time. Beautiful night life. All the humans you'd ever need. Fun without end.
And my family. What is a man without a family?
Drusilla is by my side once more. My most beautiful creation, the ultimate expression of my artistry. A living sculpture of human suffering who, despite everything I have done to her, can not help but love me. Not to mention the very useful insights provided by her talents.
Penn, my oldest offspring, has returned to the fold as well. I was very disappointed to find out that he spent the last century doing little more than copying one of my older fancies. Carving crosses into people's cheeks. He killed his family over and over again all this time and considered it an expression of art. Needed some severe talking-to, that boy, but I think he's better now.
Nero is my newest creation. In some ways she reminds me of poor little Faith, but she is nowhere near that stupid. She is young, full of pent-up violence, but has the mind to go with it. I saw her slit the throat of a punk two heads taller than she was and her smile was like a razorblade. That was before I made her mine. I killed her and she loves me for it.
My family, standing with me in my home. Of course there are others here, ones that would like to take my home for their own. Master Vampires who could presumably take my throne from me. They swarmed to my side when I created the beauty that is Los Angelus, swearing their loyalty to me in return for a place in my kingdom.
Except for my family there isn't enough loyalty in this entire city to let my guard down even for a second. That's okay, though. There are other ways to ensure obedience. Better ways than empty promises.
--
Sunnydale, 1999
"This is really getting boring." Faith mutters, slouching on the table.
Poor little girl. Pretending to hard to be the bad-ass tough girl, but I can see her insides shaking all the way from over here. Faith turned against Buffy and the others because she envied hersister Slayer's perfect little life. She helps Dick because he buys her ice cream and gave her a playstation, acts like the nice daddy she never had in her sorry excuse for a childhood. She wants me because Buffy had me and now she thinks she is the one to possess me.
I really have to consider the right moment to smash all her illusions into sharp-edged pieces.
"Patience, Faith!" I admonish her like the child she is. "A virtue, even for a demon."
I learned the art of acupuncture a few decades before the soul. It's such a beautiful way of manipulating the human body. All you need are a few steel needles and a little patience.
It achieves excellent results.
Driving the needle into yielding flesh produces a heart-wrenching scream. My sweet Buffy. When she realized just whom she was facing she was scared, but her fear was quickly hidden behind steely determination. After all, she beat me once, didn't she? No reason not to do it again.
She didn't count on Faith betraying her. Stupid girl, how couldn't she see this coming? Even when I was still chained and blind to just about everything except my own misery I saw it. Sweet, innocent Buff, though, she didn't. She didn't even suspect all the anger and hatred churning behind Faith's false bravado and naughty smiles.
Once she found herself chained up and helpless, her determination lasted exactly twelve minutes and thirty-three seconds.
That was when we stopped the witty banter and I entered the first needle. Then the screaming started.
"So you perforate her with a few needles." Faith says, still sulking. "Tough! I thought you'd get into some hardcore stuff here."
Her face tells the exact opposite story her words do. We've been at it for barely half an hour now. Buffy screams again, agony tearing through her beautiful little body as I drive another needle into a nerve cluster on her back, and Faith shivers with revulsion. She would puke her guts out within seconds seeing some of the more boring things Darla and I did in the bad old days.
"Torture is more than drawing blood, Faith!" I admonish her again. "You have to walk the fine razor's edge between pleasure and pain, leaving things on the latter side by a hair's breath."
To emphasize I draw out the needle that made little Buffy scream, instead slipping it into her body at another spot. She convulses again, tearing at the chains that hold her tight, but she doesn't scream her lungs out this time.
She moans. God, what a beautiful sound.
"Right now our little girl here is caught in the most intense pleasure she has ever known." I smile, smelling the juices running down Buffy's thighs. "Consider how long the way down will be once I put a stop to it once more."
"Why don't you just finish her off?" Faith asks, rising. "We could do a lot more fun things once we're rid of her."
I sigh, quickly growing tired of this girl.
"Faith, I think we need to clarify a few things here." I leave the needle in Buffy's flesh, knowing that ceaseless pleasure will quickly turn into pain after but a few minutes. "You really haven't figured it out yet, have you?"
"What are you talking about?" She looks confused as Buffy's moans fill the brief silence between us. Oh, my poor little girl.
"Do you honestly think just ridding me of my soul would make me want you, Faith?" I shake my head. "God, you are pathetic."
I doubt Buffy is hearing our words over the buzz of pleasure roaring through her, but I think she'd like this. Oh, the good girl would never admit it, but she'd like seeing Faith get a little of the old Angelus charm.
"Wait just a minute, bozo ..." She begins.
"You are nothing, Faith!" I grab her by the shoulders, smiling at her. "A scared little girl pretending to be a monster. You're a rank amateur, my dear. Buffy here screams a little and you almost faint. You took a single life and I can see the nightmares churning inside your head. You think that by destroying Buffy's life you can make your own worthwhile, slut?"
Shaking, she tears out of my grip and grabs one of the knives lying on the table.
"You bastard!" She spits, her eyes shimmering. "I should dust you right now!"
"Oh, you want to attack me?" Damn, she is so easy. "Do it then! You might even take me. But what will that change, Faith? Will it make you any less a loser? It won't make me want you, that's for sure."
Faith looks at me with wild eyes, not understanding this strange turn her little fairy tale has taken. I was supposed to be hers now, wasn't I? She was supposed to beat Buffy by taking me away from her. She is almost crying now. Oh, I haven't lost my touch, that's for sure.
Anger gets the better of her and she jumps me, knife raised for a killing thrust. Little girl almost took me down once, but that was when I was still weak from my little vacation in the Inferno. Not to mention the soul. Buffy at her prime was able to defeat me. Faith, though, ...
I swat her away without too much effort. She isn't thinking, blinded with rage, and certainly not at her best. She comes at me again and again, only to be driven back. I don't think I'll even get a decent workout here.
"I'll kill you!" She mutters, getting back to her feet again.
"Get over it, Faith!" I shake my head. "You won't kill me and I don't think your death will give me even the slightest amusement."
I turn away from her, picking up the sob building in her throat.
"I won't kill, Buffy, by the way." I smile at her over my shoulder. "I'd trade a hundred of you for one of her."
"I'm ... I'm gonna kill you for this!" Her voice is tinged with tears.
"Run along, Faith! Run back to daddy Dick! Maybe he'll give you a lollipop to suck on."
For a moment I think she might actually attack me again, but then she turns and runs out the door. I hear her smash a bit of the furniture on her way out. Temper, temper. She really needs to grow up one of these days.
Speaking of growing up ...
Buffy screams as I wrench out the needle, dropping her from painful heights of pleasure into an abyss of pleasureless pain.
So many hours of darkness left for us, my love.
--
Los Angelus, 2005
So many Master Vampires. I'm young for a Master, I know that. There are those here who are more powerful than me, or so they might think. Some who could maybe persuade this city's population of vampires to rise against me, take my little home for themselves.
None of them will, though. Because only I can give them what they want.
I snap my fingers and my guests look up from their conspirative chats to look at me. They all know what comes now. The reason they serve me, the reason they have no choice but to serve me here in my home.
Cruentos Dei. The Blood of God.
They all drink eagerly from the meager cups my servants bring them, their eyes shining with a craving about to be fulfilled. Drusilla watches them like a cat would the canary, smiling. Even my family does not know the secret of this beautiful tool of power, though I think Dru suspects. She has the Sight, she might have figured it out. Of all my children, though, she is the one I know will never betray me.
The blood thunders down their throats, a thousand times richer and more potent than any human blood could ever be. It fills them with power, gives them the strength of a dozen vampires, sends them rushing onto a high few of our kind have ever experienced. None of them knows where it comes from, what magnificent creature could possibly bleed like this, and though many of them spend all their waking hours trying to find out, right now they don't care. Not while it has them in their grip.
Loyalty is fleeting. But addiction is predictable. The addict will do anything for his next fix.
Anything.
Leaving my guests to their high I retreat to my private chambers, knowing that my children will take care of things in my absence. Drusilla and Penn complement each other well. Penn, unimaginative but smart. Drusilla, mad but inspired. Nero will learn a lot from them. Plus she can provide whatever violence might be needed and she will like it. Only three years dead, yet many a vampire a hundred times her age has learned to fear her knife-edged smile.
Me, I am taking some time off to enjoy myself. After a hard day's work, a man has to find some pleasure in the confines of his home, does he not?
"Rise and shine, lover!" I offer her my hand, which she takes with a grace she didn't possess just a few years ago. She rises from the bed in a motion of pure flowing energy, spilling toward me like water, molding herself against me as she was born to. It took me a few years to mold her into the perfect creature she is now, but it was worth every second of it.
And fun, too.
"What have you got planned for tonight?" She asks, whispering into my ear as if her question is a dirty secret. Knowing her thoughts I guess it is one. Her hands are never still, roaming over my flesh for the thousandth time, already knowing every curve and hollow, yet always eager to explore again.
I can emphasize, darling.
"Just a bit of pleasure, Buff." I lean down to lick a wet line along her neck. "Just a bit of pleasure."
As I sink my fangs into her skin to take my own bit of God's Blood directly from the source, I can hear her purr.
These days, it's really good to be me.
THE END