Title: Breathing By Rote

by Scylla Blue

Rating: mature audiences only.

Pairing: Angelus/Riley, Spike/Xander

Disclaimer: Do not own, Joss and WB does. Obviously, based simply on the pairings above, this is AU.

Summary: When Xander and Spike get tossed back in time, Angelus gets clued in on his future and decides to do a few things differently.

Archive: Please ask first.

Warnings: I don't know if this actually needs to be said, but people will be manipulated in this story. Namely, our boy Riley. Tall, dark and brooding will own his ass, so if you're looking for hearts and flowers, please go elsewhere. Also, X/S are a minor secondary pairing so if you're hoping for lots of action from them, sorry. Otherwise, there is cursing, same sex pairings, incest, original characters, graphic violence and gratuitous use of vampirism.

Author's Notes: For I have edited the sexual content of this story. It's usually no holds barred in my writing so if anything is still too questionable per the guidelines of this site, please let me know and I will perform further child-proofing. The un-tampered with version can be located at Adultfanfiction, WWOMB or Beyond Canon.

April 14th, the first time.

London stank. The streets were crowded in the early evening, people dressed in dark winter coats and hats bumping into each other, too hurried to apologize, to look to see where they were going. It was suffocating, but he'd endured worse on the subways and being a good head taller than most of the locals helped. He let the press of bodies push him along, scanning the street signs for the address he held in one gloved hand. His breath plumed in the cold air and he shivered, hugging his heavy wool coat tighter.

It was another three blocks before he found the street. He was almost swept past it, his polite 'excuse me's having to give way to careful shoving. The mansion was in a rich part of town, on a quiet, respectable street that understood money made your neighbors deaf and the police nonexistent. The large three and four storied houses crowded into each other, but narrow alleys ran between them. He walked past his target, not looking up at the lit windows, then ducked down the alley two houses down, circling back.

Guards were a given, but he didn't think they were prepared for him. Unbuttoning his coat, he pulled out a compacted crossbow, crouching down behind a garden trellis to load the grappling arrow. The trailing rope was half a centimeter thick and could support half a ton easily. Marking his bull's-eye he waited until there was a noise on the street, boys running past laughing and shouting, before he stood and fired, the commotion muffling the noise of the arrow thudding home. From there it was a few seconds to the roof.

Jimmying a window, he eased his six foot plus frame into a darkened bathing room. He stayed crouched for several minutes beneath the window, listening to the sounds of the house, voices rising and falling as people walked near his location. At least three females, possibly six males, none of them voices he recognized. The floor plans in his pocket showed his target to be three doors down, to the right. Moving on quiet feet, he approached the door.

No sound outside in the hall and he cracked the door open. No sound didn't mean a thing, but he couldn't wait forever. Making sure the door closed behind him, he dashed to the third door. Took a deep breath, and slipped inside.

The room was dark, but he heard a rustling of noise right before he was slammed into the wall, a smaller body painful against his own, arm against his throat, low pitched growling mixing with his grunt of pain. His instinct was to fight, but he held himself still, waiting for the other to bring his face in close, sniffing.

"Finn?" The body eased off and candlelight weakly lit the room. Riley Finn smiled into the shocked yellow eyes of the vampire in front of him, gaze taking in the teenager padding up with the candle in one hand, his other occupied keeping his modesty safely tucked into a hastily wrapped silk sheet.

"Spike. Xander. Fancy meeting you here."

"Ri? How long have you been here? I thought me and Spike were the only ones near the spell when it went blewy." Xander grinned, bumping shoulders with his lover, obviously pleased to see a familiar face. Riley tiredly smiled back before he caught sight of the collar around the teenager's neck. Thin black leather with gold scrollwork it looked a little too fancy to be a fashion accessory, but he wasn't quite sure what to ask so he let it go.

"You were the only ones caught in the spell's backlash. Giles sent me to bring you back." Then, because he really couldn't stop looking at it, "Xander, why are you wearing a collar?"

The teenager blushed, fingers reaching up to smooth over the expensive looking leather. "It's a long story."

"You've been here," the commando dug into an inside pocket to pull out his modern day watch, "for less than nine hours. How long can it be?"

"Nine hours? Ri, we've been here for three weeks!" Xander shouted, an arm swinging out to gesture around the Spartan bedroom, wax splashing. "Three weeks of no TV, no microwaves, no Angelina Jolie, no zippers! Do you know how many buttons are on clothes with no zippers? Lots! And you don't want to see what passes for a john around here!"

"Welcome to the 19th century," Spike muttered, wandering back to the gigantic four poster bed that dominated the room. The slender vampire hadn't bothered to clothe himself and treated Riley to a nice view of his pert ass. The natural blond jerked his eyes away.

"Okay. So why the collar?"

"Oh." Xander made a face. "The only mortals allowed in Angelus' house are either food or pets. Since I'm nobody's happy meal, I have to wear a collar to keep my blood on the inside and to make sure I'm only lookey-lookey, and no touchy-touchy with the rest of the suckfaces."

"We're pre-curse?" The teenager nodded and Riley looked past him to Spike sitting on the edge of the bed. "Congratulations. Can we leave now?"

The vampire smirked from under lowered lashes. "Why would we want to leave? Don't you want to meet me sire?"

"No, I don't. I don't want to meet anyone." Stepping around Xander, Riley marched up to the master vampire, ignoring his lack of covering to meet his amused gaze head on. "We're two hundred years in the past, Spike. Everyone we meet, everything we do, could alter the timeline. That could cause a paradox, that could then lead to the unraveling of time itself. Do you want to cease to exist?"

"Calm down, pet, we've been behaving ourselves. Xan ain't left the house but once or twice, and I've been sticking to the date book. Ain't killed a single Mary I didn't do the first time."

"It's true, Riley," Xander said as he shuffled up, pressing a thick glass of what smelled like whiskey into his hand. "I cross an ocean and a couple of centuries and I'm still stuck doing research." He glared at his unrepentant lover. "We've been trying to find a way back. What did Giles find?"

The soldier shrugged. "It's Giles; I have no clue what he did, but he put the spell on me. All I have to do is repeat the incantation and we're home." He looked between the two. "Is there another long story to the lack of clothes or can we get going?"

"Now?" Spike snorted. "Give it an hour, luv. We've played ourselves low key, but I had to tell Angelus when we were from. He wouldn't have taken me bringing in a smart mouth like Xander unless I had a good reason. I ain't who I used to be and Angelus has covered my slip ups with the help and Darla. He deserves to know we're leaving."

Riley sagged where he stood, tiredly closing his eyes even as he reluctantly nodded. The aches of too little sleep, earlier battles, and the lingering nausea of his mortal body being forced through time renewed their press on his consciousness. A part of him found it amusing that he had lost the ability to be impressed and awed by such impossible feats as time travel, but he mostly just wanted to go home and go to bed. The tumbler felt heavy and he chugged the contents with a small flinch before he dropped it. The whiskey burned all the way to his knotted stomach and he let the glass fall, not caring if Spike's reflexes would catch it in time.

A soft touch on his arm made him jerk back, but it was just Xander. "Riley, you look beat, and if your time warp was anything like ours, you must be feeling as bad as you look. I was puking for an hour straight, how do you manage?" He held up a hand. "I know, 'the few, the proud'. Why don't you get nice with my pillow? When Spike has all his ducks neat, we'll go." Hands tugged at him, skinning him of the heavy outer coat. "Where'd you get the clothes anyway?"

"Tara knew some theatre people." He grinned even as he let Xander shove him down onto the bed. "Mine's got zippers."

"That's just evil." Xander sat on the edge to pull off his shoes. "Bet you've got real underwear on too. Do you know what passes for underwear around here?"

Riley was asleep before he heard the answer.

oOo

"So soon to return to your own time?" Angelus quietly asked, staring down at the brawny child curled asleep on his Will's bed. "This boy who slips through the walls, he has the means to carry you home?"

"Riley's a Yank soldier," Spike answered from behind him, "don't be too hard on the help for not noticing him. Disappearing is part of his charm. And yeah, he's here to take us back."

"When?" Reaching down, Angelus fingered the short blond hair, intrigued by a mortal who could slip undetected into a master vampire's domain. Before today, he wouldn't have thought it possible. Even now, as the steady rhythm of his beating heart filled Angelus' ears, he questioned the slumbering sight before him. A most skilled boy and the vampire's eyes cut to his own childe. Spike spoke little of his time, but sadness tainted his scent when he looked at his sire. As though he mourned. Riley only added to his misgivings, for surely he would have turned such a beautiful, resourceful youth.

"In a few hours," Spike answered, choosing not to notice his sire's absent petting of the Slayer's boyfriend. "Traveling back takes a lot out of a mortal body. Xan was loopy for days, remember? Hayseed may be built for punishment but I'll never hear the end of it if his heart craps out on the way back." The sandy blond patted the pockets of his brocaded coat. "Left the whelp down in the kitchen. Best go see he don't empty the larder." The younger vampire wouldn't meet his eyes and quickly left the room.

Angelus frowned after his retreating childe. There was much he was not being told, but there was equally much he did not need to be told. His sweet, beautiful Will was called Spike by his mortal lover. What kind of degrading moniker was Spike? If he truly loved that bright, adorable boy, why hadn't he turned him, insured he would have Xander for eternity? And who would have Spike's hide if something happened to Riley?

oOo

An observer possessed of normal perceptions would have missed the colonialist's waking. Not a muscle twitched and his breathing stayed deep and regular, but Angelus listened to his heartbeat increase and watched with avid interest as the boy tried to ascertain his surroundings without giving himself away. As the vampire had never ceased his petting while he slept, he was impressed at the control shown in not reacting to the intimate contact. Someone had trained the boy well; was it hope that he was responsible?

With sudden violence Riley attacked, back pedaling even as he attempted to injure. The brunette blocked the well-aimed kick and in turn grabbed at his ankle. Vampiric strength and speed yanked the boy back within reach and beneath him, wiggling and twisting. Angelus caught his wrists and pressed them to the coverlet to either side of the blond head, chuckling at the stream of curses as the boy found himself effectively immobilized.

Exquisite in his fear and anger, sweat sheening his golden flesh. A fine trembling carried through his limbs and Angelus wondered at the beauty of the form hidden beneath the heavy clothes. Hard muscles strained against his weight, and the vampire thought again of possessing this exceptional youth even as he bent to claim his mouth. A muffled exclamation and the boy tried to twist away, but Angelus shifted his wrists to one hand at the small of his back and reached with the other to hold him in place. Nipping and licking, by slow increments the dry, soft lips opened under his assault, the submission made sweeter for its shy reluctance.

With a warning bite to his bottom lip, Angelus thrust his tongue into the gasping mouth, determined to map every cranny. The youth tasted of scotch recently imbibed, a familiar flavor of Irish whiskey, and the vampire growled his pleasure. By slow persuasion the mouth beneath his hesitantly began to respond, surrendering to his aggressive seduction. Trailing his hand from the clean jaw the distance to the wool trousers, he palmed the youth's crotch, roughly massaging his hardening manhood. He found an odd metal strip instead of buttons, but simply tore the cloth free and took a firm grip.

"No!" Riley yelped, bucking and writhing helplessly as his own pre-cum slicked Angelus' fist.

"Now, lad, why fight what your body craves? Give in to it." Shifting to his knees he pressed upward with the fist holding the strong wrists, arching the muscular body. Bending, he deep throated the youth in one easy swallow. Riley screamed his sudden orgasm, scalding semen hitting the back of the vampire's throat, the intense wave of pleasure from the boy carrying him to his own release.

Reality returned to Riley with a ridged face nuzzling into his neck, but he was too lethargic from one of the most powerful orgasms in his short life to fight the gentle nipping. He felt his skin break, then a cool tongue. It seemed the vampire wanted to play with his food.

"You're really going to hate yourself one of these days," Riley whispered. "Oh yeah, major self-blame. Too bad I won't be able to rub it in." He sighed. "Still, I am amused."

Angelus pulled back to scowl at him. His lack of attention made a slow trickle start to worm down Riley's throat. "Are ye addled? Is that why yer not mine yet?"

"Yours?" Riley exclaimed, angrily jerking his captured arms in a futile attempt to free himself. "You hate my guts, a state of emotion I wholeheartedly return." Stupid, stupid, Riley cursed himself at being unable to stop himself, but what he'd given away had been small. What did it matter if Angelus knew they didn't like each other? Or rather, he didn't like Angel; Angelus was an altogether different sort of man from his girlfriend's broody ex. This guy didn't seem the type to hulk in a dark corner and wax poetic about how much his unlife sucked, thick honey brogue or not.

"Ah, lad," Angelus murmured, the cold possessive touch of his hand running up under his heavy wool shirt making him shiver, "how could I despise such a delectable treat as yourself? I've tasted ye, and I'll have ye, no matter your imagined sins."

Riley dropped his head to the coverlet with a groan. With a harsh sound his shirt tore, baring him to the vampire's devouring mouth. Angelus ripped a strip of his shirt free while he suckled the blond's nipples, laving them until they were hard pebbles he could tease with his fangs. Feeling himself beginning to respond in spite of his wants Riley softly cursed and bucked his hips, trying to dislodge the inhuman weight bearing him down.

The vampire laughed and reared up to flip Riley over onto his stomach, quickly stripping him of his shirt before tying his wrists with the ribbon of heavy cotton. "Beautiful," Angelus breathed against his shoulder, hands pinning the American's hips to the bed. Canines sank into the meat of Riley's shoulder and the blond thrashed with a scream. Bloody kisses trailed up his collarbone until a cool, sticky tongue lapped the nape of his neck. "When I first saw my sweet William I knew that boy was mine. His blood was a siren, calling me home. Just as your blood calls."

"No," Riley gritted out, but he couldn't stop the vampire from clamping onto the back of his neck, icy pain traveling the length of his spine as the fangs pierced the nerve sensitive skin. The bite was different this time, heavier and more painful, and he gasped for breath as he felt himself falling. It was the only way he could think of it, the firm satin he was pressed to fading away into a great distance. His whole body felt detached, floating, his only anchor the shard of agony at his nape. It grew and bloomed into exquisite pleasure, waves that surged him into the body behind him.

Every touch electrified him and he remotely heard the vampire laugh as he wiggled in helping divest him of his pants. His higher brain functions shut down and he existed for sensation, for the ecstasy every caress those large hands brought. When at last Angelus brought them together Riley screamed, the virgin sensation of penetration lost beneath the swelling of pleasure. Wave after wave swept him higher until he reached the pinnacle and fell with a hoarse shout.

With a guttural groan Angelus collapsed to the mattress keeping the boy in his arms. Reaching down he freed the American's wrists so he could hug him more tightly. The boy was shaking and the vampire started to purr, certain the rolled mind would react favorably.

Riley calmed quickly, glazed eyes fluttering closed. He reacted as a childe would to its sire, reinforcing Angelus' suspicions that the boy was chosen for his House. Burying his face in the sweat curled hair the vampire breathed in his scent. No average mortal would respond as Riley had to being dominated. The boy had reacted naturally and powerfully to the simplest of Angelus' commands after being marked, his mind completely surrendered to their mutual pleasure. What scared him was that not even his William had submitted so completely or given him such pleasure. He was still hard and in his long life he could not remember such ecstasy, not even at his own sire's hand.

The boy had spoken of hate between them and Angelus silently vowed to change that. He would not lose his future childe to anything. Petting the damp skin he let his cool touch slowly bring the boy down, marveling at the silk that was Riley's flesh, hard and soft at the same time. There could be no mistaking this boy for a woman. No, he was all beautiful male and Angelus reveled in his strong musk, imprinting. No matter how long into the future he had to wait, he'd recognize his childe-to-be when he met him again.

The quiet lasted for several long minutes until Riley's quiet breathing subtly hitched, signaling his return to consciousness. Still nestled deep in his body Angelus eagerly waited for his reaction, knowing he wasn't going to be disappointed. Any other prey and they would wake crying or screaming, begging for their lives. Riley, unpredictable little thing that he was, just did a clever lift and roll that freed him to stretch out on his stomach. He scrunched his face into the pillow before turning his head to meet Angelus' avid golden eyes. The vampire was surprised to see no tears or anger, just tiredness and . . .curiosity?

"You're still here?" the boy asked, not cruelly. Genuinely surprised and Angelus frowned.

"Want me somewhere else, boy?"

A minimalist shrug answered him, those haunted hazel eyes drifting shut. "This doesn't matter, does it? My girlfriend can barely sleep in the same bed with me, when she bothers to put in appearance at all. We fuck, she leaves to more important things. Why should you be any different?"

Angelus was offended. "Yer comparing me to skirt? To some mortal fluff?"

Riley's eyes opened to stare at him for a long minute, inscrutable. Then he smiled. "Forgot, sorry. You're not . . . I'm not a substitute, am I?"

There was a story here, a wound he could clearly see, but he frankly didn't care to find out the details. But he didn't like seeing the beautiful child in such pain that he had no part in. Taking a painful grip of dark blond hair Angelus dragged the boy up to his mouth. Hard and brutal and he smiled when the boy mewled into the kiss, hands clutching at his muscled shoulders. He took the boy's mouth until his squirming went from pleasure to discomfort to panic, to a desperation for air. Until his unnatural detachment vanished with the hard fist that tried to break them apart. Angelus was an inherently selfish creature. He did not like his efforts to seduce and terrorize being ignored or worse still, being relegated to a lesser affront.

Laughing Angelus pulled back, catching that angered fist before it could strike him again. "There's my hellion!" he grinned, wrestling the child prone. Hazel eyes glared up at him, but the boy didn't strike out again, chest heaving. His burst of energy was short lived; Angelus could feel his exhaustion and knew no more games were going to keep the boy awake much longer. An unfortunate failing of mortals. "I took you because I wanted to, just as I'll one day have you as a childe."

Riley looked away and his smile was not pleasant to look at. "Tell me that in two hundred odd years, okay? Neither one of us is the Long Haul Guy." His eyes were on the wrist Angelus was pressing to the bedspread, but when he tried to tug himself free the vampire looming over him just tightened his grip. Again with the vague references to an unpleasant future and he growled out his frustration, but Riley's saddened hazel eyes were un-focusing. The trapped fist uncurled and the boy was out.

TBC.