Just to say - I don't own them but dream that I do. Please, if you enjoy - review! You know you want to and as I am in my exam period at the mo I need cheering up...

Enjoy...

Spike reappeared three days later, unwilling to tell any of them were he had been. He did confirm that all vampires in the area were under the control of the Aurelians, just as Angelus had said. They had all asked him to explain but the only answer they had received was him picking up a book and beginning to research the Hellmouth. He didn't want to patrol with Buffy or train. He just came in, read and left.

What they didn't see was him hunting every night. Tracking down and killing every damn blood sucker he could find. He kept out of the way of any members of the Order proper, just in case they recognised him.

What they missed was him lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling, a tear slowly making its way down his cheek as he remembered the past. Days, spent wrapped in silk and warm arms, receiving lazy kisses and whispered promises. Nights hunting and running side by side, stealing kisses in darkened alleys or under dull streetlamps. Sharing the kill, the blood, the passion. He remembered with startling clarity the first night he had spent with Angelus.

London 1886

For the past few months Penn had been in residence at their London townhouse. Whilst he had been there he had taken up most of Angelus' time. Although Will had been allowed to join them, he missed the thrill and intimacy of it being just the two of them. He hated Penn.

Will had been taking out his frustrations on his victims. Rather than employ the style and the finesse that Angelus had taught him was the essence of a good hunt, he became no more than a butcher. He would rip into them with such savagery the corpse would be lucky if it had a throat left. He began to torture his prey just for the hell of it, seeing how much he could make them scream before they passed out. He found that railway spikes were a good way to scare the hell out of his targets. He didn't bother to hide the bodies anymore. He'd leave them pinned to railway sleepers or walls. There was no artistry, just rage.

He didn't know that Angelus followed him most of the time, both revelling in his boy's viciousness and becoming increasingly concerned as Will began to become more than a monster. He couldn't work out what had caused the mild mannered poet to become this crass creature called Spike. He hated the affected cockney accent and the overt sexual nature he displayed. It cut him to the core to see the destruction of the boy that he had come to care for. It took him a while but he eventually realised that Penn was the problem. He had to stop Spike before Darla returned. She was as enthusiastic as the next demon about a good kill, but these were too obvious.

William rose to find the house remarkably quiet. There wasn't the sound of Drusilla's singing or the incessant moans from Angelus' room. For a split second he feared that they had left him. That Penn had finally convinced Angelus to leave with him. Will knew that he had been trying. He threw his trousers on and grabbed a shirt and ran down the hall. There was no one in Angelus' room or in Drusilla's. He raced into the one place that was left.

He could have cried with relief when he saw Angelus standing by window, calmly observing the street below. Not caring or particularly thinking about what he was doing he threw his arms around the broad figure and clung to him like a limpet.

"What's the matter boyo?" Angelus hadn't turned and didn't need to, to know that Will was on the verge of tears. He could feel the boy trembling.

"I thought that you'd left me." he whispered the words into the cotton shirt and tightened his arms around the figure. He inhaled the deep aroma that was his Sire. Dru may have turned him, but she was never going to be his Sire. The beautiful creature that smelt of red wine and bitter chocolate was. He owned Will blood, body and whatever else there was. He realised with a startling clarity that he was in love. For the first time he was in love.

It was so different to what he felt for Dru. Dru was about lust and blood. This was about belonging. This was about home. Angelus was his home.

"Why'd I want to do that Little One?" Angelus turned and before Will could move he wrapped his arms around him, trapping him before he could escape. Something that he would never be able to define, even if he lived until the end of time coursed through him when he looked into the teary brilliant blue eyes. He desperately wanted to kiss away all of the boy's pain. For the first time in his existence he actually felt out of control. He was spiralling out of control, and for the life of him couldn't understand why.

"Because Penn wants you to." Unable to bear the gaze of those brown eyes he buried his head into the firm chest. He almost began purring when a large and unbelievably gentle hand began to stroke his hair. The angry character that was Spike melted away.

"Listen to me Will, listen, no one can make me do something that I don't want. Not even Darla. If I don't want to go then I don't go." He felt Will melt into him and decided to test his theory. Besides, if I left with Penn I would take you with me." He got the response that he was looking for. Spike appeared.

"Why would I wan' ta go anywhere wiv that little shit?"

"You wouldn't. I know you hate him Will. I know what you've been doing. Why are you so angry Little One?" Angelus lowered his voice so that it was no more than a soft soothing lull. He kept stroking his boy's hair lovingly. Will stiffened in his arms. "You have to tell me Childe, I can't fix it if you don't." He couldn't help but notice the tremor that the word 'Childe' provoked.

Will's answer was so soft that Angelus almost missed it. He knew now what he was feeling. Will's simple "He has you," caused his heart to shatter, both proving that it existed and that this young man in his arms occupied an increasingly large part of it. He had nothing to say to that heart rendering comment, instead he dipped his head and softly kissed the full pink lips. He had never kissed anyone this way. The last person he had kissed as softly and lovingly was his sweet Kathy. But he hadn't felt the all encompassing passion for her.

He pulled back and holding the beautiful face in his hands he stared into the cornflower blue eyes. He hadn't seen the daytime sky since the day he died but he saw it there trapped in that visage. He had never noticed the boy's beauty before; he couldn't understand how he had missed it. He had been so caught up in the whirlwind that was the boy's enthusiasm, passion and character. He leaned forward to whisper across those tempting lips, "No, I have him." He felt the pain that began to grow inside the cherub he held.

"You have me."

Will's eyes shot up to look for any sign of mocking in the brown eyes, there was none. There was just plain honesty. And love.

"Please…"

That one word destroyed all the barriers that had ever been in his heart and Angelus leant down to capture the lips again. He felt Will come alive under his gentle kiss and push up against him. He had never had any idea of how passionate his Childe was. His Childe. Will was his, Dru wasn't going to claim him. A mix of demon passion and what could only be described as human love claimed him. He deepened the kiss.

"Love me."

Angelus groaned and began to drag Will from the room, not once letting the lips go. As he got further down the corridor he stopped. "No." there was no way that he was going to love his Will in a room that smelled like Penn. This had to be special. This wasn't a quick fuck. This was something that he was terrified of and was totally unwilling to let it go. He grabbed his boy and dragged him out of the hall and out of the house. He didn't stop to consider what they looked like, Will was half dressed and he was not that much better. He pulled Will further along the street and towards a hotel. When the concierge tried to turn them away Angelus wrapped his mind around the man and forced him to change his mind.

The suite that they acquired was the most elegant in the entire hotel. It defined the word opulent. Rich velvet curtains and damask chaises were but a prelude to the sumptuousness that was the large four poster bed. Heavy silk draped itself over the mahogany frame, and Egyptian cotton covered the goose down mattress and pillows. Angelus pulled himself away from his lover and prepared the room. He pulled all of the heavy curtains closed so that they would not have to be disturbed when the sun rose. He loosened the drapes around the bed to create a protective nest that they could escape the world in. Then he turned back to Will.

It was a good job that he was already dead, as the sight before him was heart stopping.

Will was barely dressed; his shirt hung partially open revealing an expanse of milk white skin that Angelus was desperate to taste. His honey hair was still all bed mussed and hung around his face. The curls gently stroked his cheeks and the elegant neck. God he wanted to stroke that hair. Hold it, feel it slip through his fingers, silky and slightly damp with sex. He was aware that he had begun to pant. He wasn't even holding the boy and he was already panting. Those soft, full pink lips were parted and the tip of his tongue kept flicking out to wet those lips. Angelus felt himself harden even more as he imagined what that tongue could do. The blue eyes were brighter than he had ever seen them and scorched him with its gaze. They also were unfocused, totally fogged with lust. The figure in front of him was the embodiment of everything that he wanted, everything that he found beautiful. In short, the figure before him was the very manifestation of his heart.

Will had been lost since he'd heard the words that he had never realised he wanted to hear more than anything. When Angelus had said "No," he felt as though he was about to turn to dust, but then he had been swept away to this, his very own version of heaven. He watched as the most beautiful, powerful, dangerous and exotic creature that God had ever created (for nothing else could have done such a job) created a safe haven for them to immerse themselves in. He was absolutely in love. He couldn't believe that this Adonis wanted him, this magnificent immortal said that he, William the Bloody Awful poet, had him. He was so happy, elated, delighted, jubilant, exalted that he wished he could die now so that he would never lose this.

They just stared at each other. Time ticked by and neither noticed. Eventually they snapped and came together in a kiss that erased and rewrote everything that they knew about passion. Neither would ever be able to recall the exact events or their order all they knew was they had each other. Kisses lasted for days. They stroked, touched, licked, kissed and whispered across flesh as clothes were gently peeled away. They gently eased one another down into the bed. And the world spun away.

They rocked together, joined so deeply both physically and emotionally. William felt complete as Angelus slid into him with so much reverence that he thought he thought he would cry. Gone was the blood lust of their demons. In its place was a passion so powerful that the heavens wept at its beauty. Joined together in the most human and intimate of ways an angel and a cherub explored what love truly was. At no point did they break contact. Fingers wound together, chocolate melted into blue as eyes met, small puffs of air embraced as they met in the slight space between the two, the smell of their arousal and sweat mixed to become the most intoxicating and seductive perfume. They completed one another.

As they lay there, still locked together, neither dare letting go for fear that this would be lost to them forever, licking at the demonic wounds that had been delivered with a human's adoration, they silently promised that nothing would come between them.

Spike wept at how wrong they had been. All he had left now was the distant hope that they could have that back…