A/N: To cucumber as always for draggin' me down.

Very special thanks to Chelsea for the beta work, thanks for not insulting me… yet.

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It was still day when Angelus woke up. He disentangled himself from Darla and headed towards William's bedroom. He walked in without bothering to knock and smiled at the scene before him: His childer were fast asleep. At some point they had kicked the sheets off and now they lain on the bed using nothing but each other as blankets. Dru had a small smile on her lips and was clinging to the arm that Will had thrown over her.

Angelus watched as his youngest roused and slowly became aware of his surroundings.

"Good evening William" he said from the door and William bolted away from the bed.

"Bloody hell!" Spike looked at Angelus and then at Dru, who was rubbing her eyes sleepily.

"What's happening love?" she asked confused

"Look at that my boy, you managed to awaken the lady with your little outburst" Spike looked daggers at the older vampire. Angelus chuckled. Suddenly Dru started singing. Angelus laughed out loud. Spike looked from one vampire to another completely taken aback.

"Daddy is taking young William to a field trip" Dru gave Spike a quick kiss in the cheek and hopped happily out of the room. When she was almost at the door she asked, mostly to herself "Will my Spike be a good apprentice?"

Spike was still in shock. Something important had just happened and he had no idea of what was it. He stared at the place where Dru had been for a couple of seconds, then at Angelus who was still standing by the door with a self-satisfied smile that made him want to hit him. Finally he took a look at himself, and something that had been escaping him clicked.

"She forgot her clothes" he stated on an even tone pointing at the corner where Dru's dress laid forgotten. Angelus laughed again.

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Angelus was teaching him how to hunt… Angelus was *teaching* him. That just didn't happen. Sure, he could go out with him, sometimes he even got a few pointers, but Angelus had never taught him like this, leading him every step of the way. Maybe this Sire thing wasn't so bad after all…

"Pay attention!" Angelus cuffed him in the head, in an almost-playful manner. William looked sheepishly at him "now boy, where did your prey go?" William pointed down the street "alright, if she's there, what are you doing *here*?" when Spike didn't move right away Angelus growled.

"Oh, right!" and with that, the young vampire disappeared down the street.

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"Get away from her you pillock!" William yelled at the vampire who had stolen his meal.

"Yeah, right! You came to the rescue didn't you?" the other vampire snorted "so, is she your little girlfriend?" Spike laughed, the bugger thought he was human. He'd show him.

"Think again mate" Spike flashed his game face and attacked. The other vampire was shocked for a second and he fell under Spike's weight, letting go of the girl in the process. While the vampires were fighting, the human gathered her wits and took off in a run. This distracted Spike, which gave the other vampire the perfect opportunity to gain the upper hand. He pinned Spike against a wall and in a matter of seconds had a stake against his heart.

"You just made me lose my prey fledge" Spike was ready for an insolent remark, but suddenly it struck him that he might stop existing in a matter of seconds and that he couldn't do a thing about it. It wasn't until he noticed that he was shaking that he realized he was truly terrified. The other vampire laughed.

"First time with a stake to your chest, eh? Don't worry, it won't happen again" Spike felt the stake digging into his skin. He closed his eyes and waited for the end.

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"Lawrence!" the stake stopped halfway in. William opened his eyes to see who was witnessing his humiliation, but his vision was blurred, probably due to blood loss. He took a glance down and noticed the dampness of his chest. He felt like he was bleeding a river.

"Angelus" said Lawrence in recognition. Angelus walked closer to him.

"If you stake him, you'll be begging me for weeks to let you greet the sunrise" Lawrence let go of William and took a step back, the stake still impaled in the boy's chest. Will slid down the wall until he was sitting in the dirty alley floor, then he let out a loud sigh and fought the urge to cry in anger, shame but mostly in relief. He knew he was in for several sessions of different kinds of torture, but Angelus had never beaten him beyond what he could take. He sighed again. It was going to be a long week.

"That your Childe Angelus?" said Lawrence on a mocking tone "he's such a weakling, I thought you had better taste" Angelus grinned and the other vampire cowered, not knowing what to expect. The master vampire walked towards Will and offered him his hand. He took it and stood up, trying not to sway.

"Don't move" Angelus took hold of the stake. For a second Spike wondered if he'll just push it in and end his misery.

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