Here is chapter three. it is a bit brief but i figured i may as well update before my computer goes on the blink again.

Enjoy!


Chapter 3

Drusilla twirled in a slow, graceful circle.

"Why won't you twirl with me sweet child? Don't you want to play with mummy?"

The corpse that lay on the merry-go-round near to her did not reply.

Xander gave Willow an incredulous glance. "Did that crazy bitch really just talk to that kid?"

"Mmmmm" Willow replied. "Insane, courtesy of Angelus."

"How did she survive so long?"

"Powerful protectors," the redhead replied. "First she was Angelus' favorite childe and plaything and then he made that William for her and apparently he adores her."

"I could not imagine looking after that for over a century."

Willow shrugged from her vantage point behind the bushes. "A weakness," she replied, "one we can exploit."

The maddened vampress froze and slowly turned to face the exact clump of bushes where Willow and Xander were hiding.

She gave them a slow smile that was enough to truly scare the pair.

"Have you come to join the party?"


"Okay," Buffy sighed. "This is annoying."

"Damn straight," Spike muttered.

Angelus scowled at the pair. Sometimes he wished that Spike and Buffy weren't quite so like minded. When they weren't bickering with each other they were usually making snippy little snide comments.

Devon gave a groan from where he was chained up on the wall.

"Finally," Buffy muttered. Her lover gave her an irritated glance.

"Who knocked him out again?"

"Oh bother, well, I am going to find Dru and see if she's done," Spike said.

"Sure. Fine. Bye." Buffy said, never taking her eyes off Angelus.

Spike sighed. They could get annoyingly whatever at any given moment. Still, he much preferred Buffy to Darla. She was much more fun and rarely , if ever, bossed him around. She was the youngest after all, and despite her status as Angelus' mate, age was very important in vampire hierarchy. And they had similar ideas of fun that Angelus, with his penchant for melodrama, certainly didn't satisfy. But they were still so wrapped up in each other that occasionally it was best simply to leave them be.

He heard Buffy's deep throaty laugh as he exited the house. Rolling his eyes he headed for the park where his dark plum was.

He stalked through the town, ignoring the other vampires there. They were all fledglings, no more than a decade old. He was kind of disappointed not to run into anyone worth fighting but as he walked into the park where Drusilla and a some of their minions were, a wicked grin graced his face.

"Drusilla, darling, why don't you introduce me to your friends, ducks?" he drawled.

Drusilla smiled at him. "My Spike," she crooned, "Some and play with us, won't you?" Spike grinned and sauntered over to stand by her side. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and planted a kiss on her temple.

He turned his head to smirk at the pair of fledglings who were scowling fiercely at the pair. His smirk grew wider. The pair had quite a bit to learn about bluffing.

"So," he said with a cocky grin, "Who are you two kiddies?"


Willow was Not Scared. Xander was also Not Scared. Unfortunately, that trivial little fact did not seem to stop the sheer terror that rippled through their unmoving veins.

"I could ask you the same question," Xander sneered. Willow felt profound relief. Xander was almost never at a loss for words. Not like her. Not like shy bookish Willow. But she wasn't that girl anymore, she reminded herself.

The handsome vampire with the bleached blonde hair gave a short barkish laugh.

"Well, well, well," he said, "Look what we have here pet, wanker's got bollocks all right. Or does he? What is that I scent? Terror perhaps? Go on pet, tell us your names then," he addressed Willow.

Willow glowed as haughtily as she could manage at the pair. "I don't see how it's any of your business," she said, proud of her unwavering voice.

"So young," the crazy one crooned, "Such little children. They want to play but it's past their bedtime. And-," and here she gave them a stern look, "Naughty children have to go night-night."

The bleached one grinned viciously. "Very true, my sweet."

Willow was beginning to suspect that night-night was a euphemism. Just as she was trying to decide what to do while ignoring the not-insignificant amount of terror she felt, Xander spoke up.

"I'm Xander," he said with an impressive amount of bravado, "And this, is Willow. We're with the Master," he said, hoping that the use of one of the most powerful vampires in history would frighten the newcomers. No such luck.

"Oh," said the vampire Xander had deemed Captain Peroxide, "The Master, well, I guess we'd better run home and hide then. Tell me, how is old batface these days?"

"He's good," Willow snapped, "He's powerful. He's getting free soon."

The blonde shook his head dismissively. "Been saying that for a century, mate."

"Ooooooh," moaned the crazy one, "The party is starting and daddy is sending the Slayer her invitation. She's going to come and visit soon."

"The Slayer?" Xander leered.

Spike rolled his eyes.

"Yes mate, sometimes we kill 'em, see?" he said. He ran his eyes over the pair, terrifying them both. There was something so cold and merciless in that gaze that Willow found herself unable to move. Then suddenly, contempt filled his eyes and he rolled them.

"Come on baby," he said to his companion, "Let's go make sure we're on time for the party then."

Turning their backs on Willow and Xander, a true sign of contempt, they stalked off into the night.

"I don't like them," Xander said.


Cordelia was bummed out. She had been 10 minutes late to The Bronze which normally would have been fine because, hello! She was Cordelia Chase and people had to wait for her. But Devon never seemed to grasp that fact and her boyfriend seemed uninterested in waiting around for her to show up. When she got there, the band was still taking a break but Devon was nowhere to be found.

She asked around and no one had any idea where he was although a few people mentioned he had been talking to a blonde girl. It was five minutes until The Dingoes Ate My Baby where set to begin their nest set and he was still no where to be found when she began to worry. He would never miss an opportunity to sing, insisting that to skip even one song would be tantamount to career suicide. Oz frowned on her left side.

"This isn't like him," he stated in his usual monotone. "Do you think…."

Codelia narrowed her eyes. Oz was one of the few who knew about the less human residents who lived in their quiet little town. After his geeky girlfriend and that loser, Harris, were vamped he had been a well, decent ally.

"If your freaky little girlfriend did anything to Devon…."she trailed off threateningly.

"They said he was with a blonde."Oz reminded her. "No one knows who she was," he continued, "And she was with a few other guys too."

Cordelia narrowed her perfectly made up eyes. If a vamp had killed her boyfriend so help her God….

"I'm going hunting" she announced. Oz nodded.

She had left the Bronze an hour ago and there was still no sign of Devon. She decided to go home and try calling his house to see if he had gotten suddenly ill or something.

Yes, that was it. He had vomited all over that skanky little blonde tramp because he was allergic to her noxious perfume and had gone home to try to get well enough to get down on his knees and beg for her forgiveness.

She entered her family's mansion and headed to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water and some fruit. She glanced at the chocolate cake in her fridge. It was tempting to have a piece, her slayer metabolism would likely burn it off before morning. But there was a dance coming up and her thighs were just a tiny too jiggle-y. She grabbed the spring water and some of her mother's diet pills instead. She stalked up to her bedroom. The live in maid was in courters by now, her father was somewhere in Switzerland, and her mother was on a "girls retreat to Tahiti" aka, fucking the gardener somewhere in L.A. She had the house to herself.

She rounded to corner to her bedroom and paused. Something didn't feel quite right. Before she would have dismissed the feeling as idiocy but now….Now she was a little more cautious.

"Maria?" she called. "Are like, tu aqui?" No one answered. She pulled a stake out. She was very careful about who she invited in but what if…..

"Maria?" she called again. She slowly twisted the knob on her door and opened it quickly shutting it behind her, she took a fighting stance, with a stake in her raised arms. She looked around the room on relief. No one was there. She checked her bathroom and under her bed, as childish as it was, and relieved, prepared to go to bed.

Halfway through brushing her teeth she realized she had completely forgotten to call Devon. She quickly rinsed and dashed over to the phone to try his house. At the very least, his mother would be home. She dialed his number. It rang once, twice and…

"Hello?" his mother said, sounding tired. Or like she had a cold. Whatever.

"Hi, "she said shortly, "This is Cordelia, I'm calling because I was supposed to meet Devon at the Bronze and he never showed up, even though he was supposed to be playing. Is he like, sick or something?"

She heard a faint murmur in the background before his mother replied, "Sick, Yes. He's sick."

"Oh. Okay, well tell him to get better soon and all that," the brunette said, her worries assuaged.

"Of course," his mother said faintly, "Well, goodnight to-"Cordelia hung up.

"Ugh" she muttered. Glancing at the clock she realized she only had about 5 hours of beauty sleep. Ridiculous. Why the hell did school have to start so early? Sighing impatiently she made her way over to her dark blue silk canopy bed. She shut off the lights, pulled on her sleeping mask, and attempted to get comfortable under her sheets. Something wet dripped on her face.

She sat up in shock. A leak in the ceiling? No way. Nothing could make this day crappier. She wiped finger over the water and turned on her lamp. If she had bothered to look she would have noticed that he index finger had a reddish tint to it. As it was, once she turned on her lamp and looked at the underside of her canopy bed-

And screamed.

Outside her window, Angelus smiled. "So you've gotten my present," he murmured, too quiet for even her to hear, "Now come out and play little girl, let's see what you've got."

Cordelia was in shock.

"Ohgod,ohgod, ohgod," she said. "Ohhh."

There, nailed to her ceiling, was the horribly mutilated body of her boyfriend.

I was definitely Devon, who ever had done this to him had obviously been careful not to do much to his face. It looked like his teeth were missing and his eyes were horribly open but…

God she couldn't even look at him. OH! Dear lord, how had they gotten him in her house? They had gotten him into her house!

"Giles!" she breathed. He would know what to do. She made her way over to the phone and dialed his number with shaky fingers.

He would know what to do.


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