AN: You guys are *amazing* for the feedback you've given me. It honestly makes me work faster. Thanks a lot. More B/Aus interaction in this one. Also, I'd like to re-remind everyone that things are way different in this story and I've moved things around to make it work. Sire/Childe relationships are the most different.
Buffy slowly opened her eyes. Her vision was slightly blurred and for a moment she thought she was back in her home, safe and sound. It was only when she tried to stretch out her tired limbs did she remember what had happened… and where she was.
She shook her head and stood up fully. She found that her arms were chained to the ceiling. They were as far as they could go without her standing on tiptoe and were slightly behind her, making the position extremely uncomfortable.
But, why was she chained up and most of all why wasn't she dead? She moved her still disoriented gaze around the room and found Angelus standing stonily in front of her.
His eyes were an intense dark brown and they never wavered from her mossy green/gray eyes. He was clothed now, long gone was the damp white towel he wore. He was now in slim fitting black leather pants with a soft looking maroon velvet shirt. His posture was confident, but deadly. He stood there silently and didn't move an inch.
That bastard wouldn't make her squirm. She looked away from him quickly as he took one small step forward.
"Who are you?" Angelus spoke softly, but firmly, to the young vampire assassin before him.
She stared straight ahead, her posture as straight as she could make it, and said nothing. The only thing that showed in her eyes was hate; pure hate.
He walked around her, watching her disciplined form. She showed no pain from the awkwardness of the chains and no signs of fear. Reminded him of himself from many years ago. He continued speaking, his tone deceptively conversational.
"You're young. That I know…but there is a strange beam of power coming from you that is unusual for a creature of your age. Maybe an Awakener?" He leaned in closer to her body and inhaled deeply. His eyes snapped to hers and he spoke unable to hide his excitement, "And untouched! Pure as the Heavenly Angels. Maybe I should amend that for you…"
He attempted to reach his hands out to test her body, but before he could her voice made him pause.
"You touch me and the Azilots will make your suffering great before the end your miserable existence."
He glanced to her face. The face that was once perfectly stoic, had slightly rounded eyes and a blush tinted to her cheeks.
Angelus smile triumphantly, "Ahhhhh, yes! Another Azilot come to destroy me. When will they learn…?" He turned his back to her and walked away with a chuckle, attempting to show that she was no threat to him.
Buffy gritted her teeth in frustration, realizing he had tricked her into speaking.
He flounced on his stately bed and took a comfortable position, his eyes firmly on her form. In a casual tone, he asked, "So, how much of a reward were they wishing to grant you for turning me to ash?"
Once again, Buffy did not speak, not wanting to give into the Elders desire. She kept her eyes straight forward, but there was a burning desire to lash out and wipe the arrogant look off of his face.
"Oh, come now, child. Don't tell me you're going to give me the silent treatment now. We were getting along so well!"
Her nostrils flared as she tried to keep her angry words at bay. She decided that most likely he was going to kill her so she spoke, "You killed my parents! You and your soulless demons burned down our homes and took my life with it! The only reward is to watch you die!"
Angelus paused for a moment, clearly thinking of what she was saying. He relaxed in his luxurious bed and reclined against large black velvet pillows, "My… soulless demons, you say? And what town was this, young one?"
She finally turned her glare onto him and spat, "Don't play coy with me, monster. You know exactly which town I'm speaking of!"
He smiled a slow, evil grin. Everything was now making complete sense now, "Sunnydale. So, you are the Awakener. Oh... this is getting good. Tell me, my love, what do you know of me?"
Buffy didn't acknowledge the assumption of her position, just let out a vicious growl, "You let The Beast control you. You were human once, but even then you had no soul. You're evil…and I am not your love."
Before she even could tell he moved, Angelus was in front of her. He lifted his fingers to her face, then to her neck. He kept going, tracing the swell of her breast and lightly going over her nipples. She took a quick inhale of breath, her very faint heart beat increasing. He reached her ribs and guided downward, placing the palms of his hands on her flat stomach, and then gripping her hips. He pulled her pelvis forward and into his own, letting her arms stretch almost to the point of dislocating her shoulders.
He snarled nastily, "That is only the beginning of what you know of me, child. Soon, your mind will crack and shift and you will know nothing but me."
He released her and with a snap she fell back against the wall. He walked past her coolly. She heard his footsteps and the slam of the door and realized he had left her alone in his bedroom. She released the breath she had been holding since he first touched her, in a rush. She wanted to say that she had been totally disgusted with his presence, that his touch alone filled her with rage. She couldn't.
The rage, disgust, hate and most definite embarrassment were there, but so were emotions she had never felt before.
What was this monster doing to her?
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Angelus stood outside of his door for a moment and calmed himself, before whipping out his cell phone and marching down the hall. The person on the other end answered in the first ring.
Without a greeting he barked into the phone, "I want to know everything about Sunnydale, California. There are vampires there, Azilots. I want to know all high ranking families, mayors…everything. There's an Awakener that lived there. Get me every single piece of information you can find about her. I want to know why the town was purged and who ordered it." He slammed the phone shut without a goodbye and continued his prowl through the hall.
He turned sharply into a room not too far from his bedroom. He opened the door and slammed it shut once he was inside. Angelus turned and walked towards the mini bar in his office, intent on worrying about something other than the hate-filled little vixen in his quarters.
His back was turned to the rest of his room as he focused on mixing his drink. When the short cockney voice rang out, he didn't even bother turning around.
"There's nothing a bit of Irish Whiskey can't fix, eh?"
He laughed slightly, "Exactly right. I guess even an English dog like yourself has a little bit of taste. Want one?"
"Of course," The other vampire replied. He was reclined in a leather fainting couch, his platinum hair in stark contrast to its black color. "What took you? I know you're a filthy bastard, but that shower was a bit long."
"I had a… unexpected visitor." Angelus finished pouring his childes drink and made his way to him.
Angelus made very few childer in his lifetime, something that was unaccustomed to vampires. Though, out of all the ones he had created Spike was his favorite. The irony of him being English did not pass over him.
Spike grabbed the glass his sire offered, "Oh, really? And why do I get the feeling that this is different than your usual pop-in guests?"
Angelus took his own drink and sat opposite of his long time companion, "Oh, different is a good word for it. Blonde, petite, but damn…she's strong."
"So says the shiner on the side of your head. What happened, mate?"
The dark haired vampire raised a hand to his head and grimaced. Hopefully the damage would heal before his appearance at the Gathering. "An Azilot happened."
Shock appeared on Spikes face, "No, shit. So, your meeting didn't exactly end well, I see. I take it she's still alive?"
He nodded, "It wasn't a meeting. She thinks that I murdered her parents. She thinks I assigned our people to destroy her bloodline."
A smile caught the edges of Spike's lips, "Well, I have to admit, it does sound like your style."
Angelus matched with one of his own, "You know me so well. Unfortunately, this time, I didn't do it."
"So why is she still breathing? …Metaphorically, of course. Just get rid of her. I highly doubt that Darla would appreciate that pretty little thing being contained in your bedroom."
Angelus quirked an eyebrow at him. It was well known that he was very popular with women, but that he kept main lovers. Darla was his favorite of them. Her vicious nature rivaled only his and for that he appreciated her. Usually his captors were chained in the basement, but this girl…this one caught his eye.
"What? Don't you look at me like that. You know I'm right." He took another sip from his whiskey.
The Master vampire scoffed, "It doesn't matter what dear old Darla thinks. There's something special about this girl. Her clan was Azilot. She was the only one that survived, I'm assuming, because she attacked me alone."
"She attacked you?! She's got some bullocks I'd say!" Spike drained the rest of his drink and slammed it onto the table in front of him. He leaned in closer, interested in what else Angelus' knew of the girl.
"Yes…yes, she does." Angelus took a swig of his whiskey and continued, "She's got some power floating through her body, Spike. I think she's an Awakener."
The younger vampire watched his sire closely, "That would explain her having parents… are you going to consume her?"
Angelus frowned at the thought of him stealing her power and then resumed his stoic features, "I've sent for more information about her and her town. We'll see what happens."
Spike noticed the brief flash of emotion before Angelus locked it away, "You've got a hard-on for this chick, don't you?"
He rolled his eyes at Spikes tone, "If you had seen this girl, you would have one too."
Spike gave him a skeptical look, but didn't say anything. He got up and went to fix himself another drink, "Yeah, yeah, sure. Anyway, we best be gettin' ready for this damn Gathering tonight. I don't want a repeat of what happened last year."
Angelus laughed, recalling how they went 2 hours late and extremely drunk to the annual Aurelius Gathering. His tone was coy as he replied, "What do you mean? I think we provided entertainment and a pleasant environment for our Clan."
"You stole Penn's bloody woman and shagged her right in front of him!" Spiked retorted, though there was a devious smile on his face.
"Oh, please! Don't act like you didn't join in! We had a marvelous time! And we gave her right back!" Angelus draped his arm around his friend's neck.
"True…true… But, we definitely don't need any more enemies, Angelus. Let's get this show on the road."
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Darla was beyond furious. Not only did Angelus not want to arrive at the Gathering together, he had been avoiding her the entire night. She caught the scent of another vampire on him instantly and was now trying to keep herself from making a public scene. His speech was about to begin and she was determined to ignore him to the best of her ability.
Her gaze traveled over to a young, yet virile young breed. Putting on her most seductive face, she slunk over to him.
Angelus rolled his eyes at Darla's attempt to make him jealous. He refused to show any kind of weakness to his council and showing up with a woman on his first public event would be doing just that. He didn't care whether she understood that or not. He had continuously rebuffed her advances and the result was her now molesting the young breed in front of her.
He turned his attention back to the small group he was conversing with. They were all powerful men and all had been members of The Elder Council when Nest was killed. They seemed to be very pleased with themselves at the moment; all joking and chiding each other. Of course with vampires, especially Aurelius, you could never know what the true intent of someone really was.
Which was why he knew that those men wouldn't be too pleased with him in a few short moments.
Angelus once again lost focus of the men before him and scanned the crowd. Master Nest had, had a cabinet of more than 500 members and just about all of them were in attendance that night. Mainly, the Elders came back each year to hear their own names called.
He snarled in disgust of the self serving crowd. No, they wouldn't be pleased with him at all.
His thoughts were cut short as Xander bustled through the crowd to him, "Heya, big guy. I did what you asked. Now it's your time to shine."
Angelus nodded curtly, "Very well. Let's get on with it."
His advisor returned his nod and walked up to the podium where Willow was already standing. He whispered something into her ear and then turned toward the microphone.
Only slightly nervous(a habit she just couldn't shake from her human years), she tapped the mic. After a moment, she had everyone's attention and cleared her throat to begin speaking.
"You've all been invited here as an honored guest of the Aurelius Clan. As you all know, we suffered a most horrible tragedy a few months ago and lost our oldest and most powerful leaders. Among them, the most important, our Master Heinrich Nest." She let them mutter their mostly faux condolences through the crowd.
"Though our enemies would like to have seen us crumble, we have only grown stronger through the direction of our new leader." She stopped again for the light applause before continuing again, "Give your respect, your honor, and your loyalty to our newest leader, Master Angelus!"
Angelus felt ridicules for all the pomp and circumstance, but he knew it was a necessary evil. He sauntered to the podium and stared at the expecting crowd silently for a moment. His presence was strong and his dress was immaculate. Compared to Heinrich Nest, he was indeed the new face of Aurelius
After there was not a rustle of paper in audience, he began to speak, "This is the time that our … beloved Master would say a few names… fake a few smiles… and soak up the reverence of our people. I am not he."
At his blunt entrance to his speech, people began giving, hopefully unnoticed, glances at each other.
"I refuse to smile at deceit and conniving, disloyal Aurelius. I have no friendly ties to any of you. My only loyalty is to my clan and my clan alone. If all of us had that attitude, our ancient leader would still be alive."
An audible gasp went through the crowd. Someone stepped up on the stage, but was quickly blocked by the extra security Xander had arranged. Angelus didn't even glance over to him.
"This ends now. The Elders are as follows: William the Bloody, Lieutenant Master, Willow Rosenberg, Advisor, Alexander Harris, Advisor…"
He continued on until he got to the 100th name.
"Those are your Elders, respect them as such." He made a move to walk away from the podium, but stopped short. Leaning back into the microphone, "We are now a system of checks and balances. Everyone watches everyone else and we will never have a weakened Clan. I chose only the most loyal, the most dedicated. If you were not chosen… maybe that's something for you to think on for the next year."
With those words, Angelus stalked off the stage, almost angrily. The one who tried to get onto the stage suddenly appeared in front of him. He recognized him as Quentin Travers.
Quentin's face was twisted in barely concealed rage, "I don't know what you intend by doing this, Angelus, but it is pure madness. Your blatant accusation of an Elder killing Master Nest-"
"-Is completely true. I am not having this discussion with you right now, Travers. Though you have been anointed as an Elder, you will make an appointment with me or wait until our next meeting." Angelus brushed past him, none too gently.
Travers stared at his back darkly as he left.
"Angelus!" Darla saw that he wasn't going to stop and kept up with his fast pace. She noticed several of the guards from the stage were now following her lover out of the room. "Where are you going?"
He stopped then, now that he was safely away from most of the prying eyes, "Home. I have to see to something."
He stalked off with his guards and left her standing in the middle of the entrance hall. She heard the grumbles of irritation and shocked disappointment come from the still going party. While most women would be concerned over her lover's safety and reputation, Darla wasn't one of them. She saw excitement, danger, and above all attention.
No matter whose scent he came to the Gathering wearing, she would make sure that Angelus stayed hers at any cost.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter. And remember kids! The moral of this story is More Feedback = Quicker/Longer Chapters!
Loves.
Chy