Author's Note: This is another chapter which has a few graphic moments, right at the beginning actually, so proceed with caution ;)


The knife was cold on her skin, the pressure of the sharp blade slowly increasing until it parted flesh and muscle, warm rivulets of blood trailing down her arm; clenching her fists tightly, she strained against the metal bonds holding her down on the table, but her struggles didn't deter the Alpha as he merely went on cutting, then put the knife aside, smiling cruelly at her as his fingers found the edge he had made, then pulled, a hoarse scream wrenched from her throat as he, with agonizing slowness, removed a patch of skin, then tossed it aside carelessly, smiling all the while…

"Burning Heart", Alpha's voice startled her out of her thoughts, and she looked at him, her blank expression showing nothing of what she just had been thinking about, "you have been quiet since you brought the witch."

"I have nothing to say", she gave back with a shrug, making him chuckle slightly, a hint of affection in his voice when he replied. "Indeed, you've never been all too talkative during the years you've served me. It is one of the things I like about you."

She let out a vaguely agreeing grunting noise in reply, making him chuckle yet again; then, he leaned forward, placing his hand on her shoulder, and briefly, she saw his fingers covered in blood and simply knew it was hers, her blood momentarily running cold – before she blinked and it was gone, none of this showing on her face again as she kept all her emotions carefully locked away, the way…

The way he had taught her to, after she finally had given in, the day after he had brought that knife down again, only on her face this time, taking…

"I know the witch put lies in your head", he said, startling her out of her thoughts once more, "you know these things aren't true, don't you?"

"Yes", she replied, after just a second of hesitation, briefly making her wonder if he had noticed – before she had to keep her expression carefully neutral again as she realized that this was the first time in who knew how long that she hadn't been honest with him.

"I can make the thoughts stop", Alpha now went on, not letting it show if he had noticed that anything was amiss, "all those lies she put in there. Do you want me to?"

"No", the Burning Heart gave back at once this time, "I know they are not true, but I want to know what she came up with. It might help with her initiation."

Another lie, and one which came easier to her than the first one she had told; and again, he apparently didn't notice, merely smiling slightly again before he nodded, sounding thoughtful as he replied. "A good point, my friend… What she put into your head might be things she fears, so they might be useful against her."

In response, she just nodded this time, still surprised at her own behaviour – just a few hours ago, lying to him would have been unthinkable to her, her absolute loyalty and honesty being of the things he had drilled into her during the training.

In the far back of her mind, in the darkest corners which were never accessed consciously and willingly, something stirred, bringing up emotions she hadn't felt for a long time, feelings which only increased when she thought of the witch she had captured and had taken here, and of what would await her once they had gone back to their dimension and he started the initiation on her.

This is wrong, a tiny, barely audible voice whispered to her, nothing of this showing on her face, her expression still as carefully guarded and empty as it usually was when she wasn't killing something or someone for Alpha, you know this is wrong, you can't let this happen to her…

A deep, controlled breath shut the voice up, pushed it back to the darkest corners of her mind; briefly, Alpha glanced at her, but apparently did not think that her behaviour was strange in any way, coming to his feet a second later and stretching before he let her know that he'd get some rest.

"I want to open the portal soon", he then added, "and go back, before the Slayer comes around to rescue her friend. Once we got her on our side, no one will be able to stop us."

Not sure if he wanted a reply to that, the Burning Heart just nodded, making him smile slightly; he still took the time to tell her to keep her guard up, just in case the Slayer would drop by sooner than expected, then turned and marched off, making his way to the resting area of their camp.

For a little while longer, she remained where she was, the other demons too busy with whatever task Alpha had assigned them to pay much attention to her; since she was his right hand, just talking to her for the sake of small talk was off limits anyway, the other members of the unit usually just speaking to her when it was related to their duties or an upcoming battle.

Usually, she didn't mind just sitting there, sometimes sharpening her sword, sometimes just going into some sort of standby-mode until she'd be needed again; this time though, she felt uneasy as she sat there with nothing to do, images of torture coming up in her mind's eye again, of Alpha doing all these horrible things to her.

Abruptly, she came to her feet, realizing whom she had to talk to if she wanted these thoughts to stop; she momentarily wondered if perhaps, this would make Alpha angry at her, especially since he had offered to take care of those thoughts for her, then shrugged it off, telling herself that she had every right to speak to the prisoner she had brought here and that he needed to save his energies for the re-opening of the portal, her reasoning allowing her to get moving and make her way to the room they had locked the witch up in.

The magic one of the unit had cast on the door was still active, keeping the redhead from leaving the room; as all spells which were used by the lower members of the unit though, she had the power to undo it, doing so by simply running her hand over the door, the silver band on her ring finger briefly flashing with red light before the magic had been modified to let her through, the door creaking slightly as she pushed it open, exposing the small, dirty room behind it.

In the middle of said room, the witch was sitting on the floor, her eyes closed, but opening slowly as the Burning Heart stepped inside; she briefly smiled, then took a closer look at her face and the smile vanished, replaced by a hint of unease at the hard expression the demon now had.

"You put those lies in my head", the black haired woman accused, not beating around the bush, "make them stop. Now."

"I can't", Willow replied, to her credit not even flinching when the Burning Heart let out a low growl in reply, "because those thoughts aren't lies. You're remembering, aren't you. You're remembering what he did to you."

The fact that she didn't really ask, but merely made a statement, only caused the Burning Heart's anger to grow; another growl came from her, louder this time, and she took a step closer to the redhead, her good eye flashing up red as she replied.

"Alpha wants you alive", she told her in a flat, dangerously calm voice, a voice which showed nothing of the emotions the glow in her eye and the look on her face betrayed, "but that doesn't mean I can't hurt you. Make them stop."

"I can't, and even if I could, I wouldn't", Willow gave back, holding her gaze even though she asked herself how close she was to actually getting hurt, knowing that in her current state, her lover would have no qualms about injuring her, "you need to face this. To see what he did to you, so you can come back to me…"

"He would never do such things to me", the demon protested at once, not really surprising her partner – whatever had been done to her to finally break her, it had been bad enough to completely repress the person she had been before it had happened, and Willow knew that a simple talk and a few fragmented memories wouldn't be enough to undo it.

"I can help you", she went on when the black haired woman didn't attack her immediately, "I can show you… Not the things he did to you, but the things we shared…"

Feeling daring thanks to Pat's lack of response, she made it her turn to take a step closer to her; to her relief, the taller woman still made no move to attack her, but merely stared at her, the glow in her eye still there, even though Willow was quite sure it had lessened slightly.

"I'll let you do what I did to you", she added, fighting the urge to reach out for her, "let you look into my mind… then you'll see that I'm telling the truth, that I'm not lying to you…"

"You'll just put more lies into my head", the demon replied, not sounding as convinced as she had a few minutes ago though; perhaps, Willow pondered, the fact that she showed no fear was helping with making the taller woman believe her words, thus giving her best to sound calm and controlled when she replied, not wanting to risk the small chance she had now.

"I won't even be in your head", she told the black haired woman, making her frown, "you'll be in mine. I promise it won't hurt, and you'll see what it was like before Alpha got his hands on you."

For a second, she thought that it might work, that Pat would agree to her suggestion and that then, it all would be fine; and then, in an instant of spectacularly bad timing, the cry "The Slayer!" went up outside, followed by fighting noises, the demon snapping to attention at once, clenching her fists as she turned towards the door, having lost all interest in Willow.

"No, wait!" Willow cried out as the taller woman got moving, hurrying after her as she strode through the magical barrier, the ring on her hand briefly flashing brightly again, a fact the witch noticed, but filed away for later; moments later, she was stopped harshly as she hit the barrier, forced to stand there helplessly and watch how her lover marched off, her heart sinking as she asked herself if she'd get another chance to make things right.