Next Chapter as promised. And longer too.

Buffy's head shot up and saw a gorgeous, shapely blonde woman standing at the entrance of Angelus' room. Her posture was one of irritation; she did not look at all pleased.

Angelus sighed in quiet frustration, wishing that Darla had gone home with the young breed he saw her chatting up with. He lifted Buffy and himself from the floor, before showing her inside of the small storage space where he had retrieved the blood. Before turning to Darla, he lifted his finger and gave Buffy a warning look to remain there.

He closed the door tightly and faced his concubine. "Darla. How nice of you to drop by….unannounced."

She sauntered around the room as she spoke, "Yes, well, I thought I'd stop by to see what was so damn important that you had to leave the banquet early. I must say that when you've strayed in the years… you've had much better taste than that, Angelus."

Angelus followed her with his eyes, watching every sensual step of hers. Usually unexpected visits from her were welcomed. Whatever female he had in his bed at that moment would be tossed aside and replaced by his favorite lover. "Is that jealousy I smell? I thought you were better than that?"

Darla growled and snapped, "I am not jealous. I would just like to know why my lover hasn't paid me any attention in the last 2 weeks. And when we finally meet, you leave early to be with some… child!"

He strolled up to the angry vampire and pushed a piece of her hair away from her eyes. The anger melted in her eyes and she leaned into him, accepting the loving touch. He gave a soft, artificial smile, "I'm sorry, Dar. It's just…you've gotten kinda boring."

The softness in her face disappeared at his words as his words betrayed his hands caring motions.

"I needed a little excitement in my life, something you just can't provide anymore."

She snarled and smacked his hand away from her, "I have no idea what you're talking about!"

Angelus laughed cruelly, "See, what I mean? Excitement, thrill, fun! You don't even know how to speak the words now!"

"I didn't come here to play your little games, Angelus. I came here to be fucked and I am not leaving until I'm satisfied!" Darla marched over to vampire and pressed her lips against his.

Angelus kissed her back viciously, biting and cutting the skin on her lips. He allowed his demon face to appear and pulled back from her abruptly. Gripping her shoulders painfully, he pulled her close and spoke into her ear, "Our association has never been on your terms, my dear whore. It would be in your best interest to remember that!"

With that he pushed her hard onto the floor. She snapped up quickly, "Angelus!"

"It's Master Angelus. Now leave, Darla. Can't you see I'm busy? She may be young, but at least her cunt hasn't been used by every vampire this side of California."

Seeing that she was pushing Angelus to his limit, she straightened her shoulders and attempted to walk out with dignity. The sound of his voice calling her name caused her to turn around. "Yes…Master Angelus?"

"If you come back here without an invitation you will not be pleased with the outcome. Understood?"

Her lips made an angry line to keep her biting words from escaping. She nodded shortly and walked out of the room.

Angelus sighed in contentment. He knew she would come crawling back, literally, if he told her to. If the young Buffy were not in the other room he would have gladly taken her up on her offer. Alas, the walls were thin and he was not about to ruin his seduction for the sake of Darla.

When he opened the door he saw that Buffy had moved to the back of the closet, sitting on her haunches. She calmly glanced at him and he knew that she had heard every word of their conversation.

"I want to go home."

He walked into the large space and crouched down next to her, "Home? You have no home, remember? This is as close as you're going to get, babe."

Painful memories flashed through her head and she realized he was right. Her town and her friends, the ones she knew her entire life, were gone. But maybe she escaped, maybe she could find them, "My bloodline may be gone, but my Clan still exists! I should be with them!" Buffy defiantly stared into his eyes.

Angelus looked away from her and stood, assuming his dominant position above her, "Just as well. Do as you wish. You're free to leave here anytime."

Buffy studied him closely. This Elder did not seem the type of vampire to just relinquish power, "You'll let me go…just like that…"

"Just like that. I'll even make sure my clan doesn't put a hand on that creamy, pure flesh of yours." He finished the last line of his words slowly, his eyes scanning her body.

Once again Buffy felt that unfamiliar flash of heat go through her body. His posture, the tone of his voice, the sinful way he looked at her…

She had to get out of there. Fast.

She stood quickly, her head high, refusing to back down, "Then I want to leave. Right this second."

"Oh, but of course." He turned around and opened the door of the closet, "Right this way, Milady."

Buffy was quick to leave the small space. She slid by Angelus and made her way to the door she had seen him come in and out of.

He smiled at her pace and walked next to her and put a hand to her shoulder, "You will walk by my side."

The tone that he spoke in gave Buffy no second thoughts of disobeying him. She just wanted to be free of this nightmare. Even though, she knew that it was only the beginning.

They began their walk outside of his bedroom. Long halls came into her sight, one in front and two on each side, many doors on each of them. Angelus began a slow, strolling pace as he guided her towards the exit.

The large mansion was extraordinarily clean. The floors were polished, the walls buffed, and there wasn't a spec of dust that her keen eyes could pick up. The forbidding outside of it, she found, was simply a cover. Her reverie shattered when Angelus spoke.

"Where will you go?"

Hm. Good question. She hadn't gone through the specifics, but her senses and her clans' senses were good enough to find each other. "I'm not sure, but, I am sure that I will find some of my people."

He kept his eyes straight ahead hoping to unnerve the young girl, "And you think they'll just accept you back?"

She looked at him sharply, unready for that question. His cool demeanor was apparent now…he was hiding something, "Why wouldn't they? They would care for me, I'm their Awakener."

"Wrong again." He said in a sing-song voice, "Don't you remember Justine? I know I do."

Buffy flinched at the mention of the previous Awakener. It had been several decades since her time, but the Council made sure she knew of what happened. She picked up her pace a bit, "It doesn't matter. I've done nothing wrong. They wouldn't deny me."

"Oh, no? Not even if they thought their precious Beacon of Light had made a pact with the devil himself?"

She stopped in the middle of the beautiful hallway and turned to him, "…what did you do...?"

"Word is that you've turned on your family, your clan after you were captured by the Aurelius. You begged and pleaded for you life. Even got down on those pretty little knees and-"

"Enough! None of this is true! Did you do this? Did you spread these lies?" Her face was already read with frustration and angry tears were forming her in her eyes.

"Oh no, of course not. I wouldn't dare say that about a creature as pure as you." He lied smoothly. Though there were no such rumors about her now, it would only be a matter of time.

She successfully blinked her tears away and seethed quietly, "They will not believe that an Awakener would do such a thing. We are trained to be loyal, to our people, our fight. They'll believe me."

Angelus let out a bark of laughter and dismissed her with a swat of his hand, "You were trained and educated, and you have compassion and loyalty, not them. Don't tell me I know your people better than you do."

Buffy's confidence hitched as she thought on his words. Would they believe her or would they take it as another opportunity to put another Awakener on trial? Her musings stopped when Angelus grabbed her by the shoulders.

"What makes you think they won't string you up the second they smell my scent on you…the arousal I created?"

Buffy opened her mouth to protest, but nothing came out. What would she say? 'I didn't want you to touch me!' or 'I was never aroused by you!' The fact is she did and she was.

Angelus kept his face stoic, concerned, but inside he was gleeful. While it was true, there was a chance they would not accept her back, he was completely manipulating her emotions. He did want to conquer this girl… but he also wanted to keep her safe. "Here we are. Here's your chance…to go 'home'."

Her brow furrowed in frustration, fear. She didn't know anyone outside of her town that was Azilot. She surely couldn't stay here. She moved toward the door.

"Unless," She stopped at his voice and turned towards him carefully, "Unless you would like to stay here. I have more than enough room to accommodate you with."

Buffy's eyes widened in surprise at the offer. Stay with the Aurelius? With the one rumored to have made a pact with the Beast? The man who made her body burn and sweat with just a look? Not a chance. She'd have a better chance walking into a sunlit church.

"Before you speak, you should hear what I have to offer. I will find your nearest clan's town, The Beast knows how you made it all the way from Sunnydale to here. I will have the situation explained, as well as give you safe passage to it."

Her surprise quickly turned hopefulness, the teenaged girl replacing the warrior, "You could do that? And you think they would listen? They-they would take me back?"

Angelus almost felt shame for manipulating the lost, young girl. But, he ignored the feeling and continued, "Your clan may not trust me, but I do have diplomats that will be able to change their minds about you."

She kept her hand on the door and gave him a distrusting look.

Angelus sighed, realizing his assassin was not going to make this easy, "It's true, I desire you, more than I've desired anyone in a very long time. But no matter how many stories you've heard of my past, you should know that I've never gone back on my word."

She looked away from him. After a moment she raised her gaze to him once again and moved away from the door, "I accept."

His eyes sparkled with glee He nodded to her once and get out his cell phone, punching in numbers quickly, "I need you here. Yes. …Did he? Good." He hung up and met her questioning eyes, "I keep my bases covered."

She too another glance around his impressive home, "Yeah, I guess you do."

He flashed a smug grin and put a hand behind her shoulders, "Come. I have someone to introduce you to."

He led her past many more rooms. The closer she got towards the entrance the more vampires she saw. There were two that caught her eye. She recognized power and those two most certainly had it. He moved towards them and surprisingly, they smiled warmly in greeting.

Making Buffy shiver, he moved the hand from around her shoulders to the middle of her back, "Buffy Summers, I would like to introduce you to Willow Rosenberg and Alexander Harris, my advisors."

"Just call me Xander. It rolls off the tongue better," The male vampire in question grabbed her hand and laid a gentle, but lustful kiss on it.

Her eyes met Angelus; for what reason she didn't know. Jealousy and irrational anger flashed through his eyes as he none too gently smacked Xander's hand away, "How many times do I have to tell you to keep your hands to yourself?"

He rolled his eyes, but stepped back anyway, "Aye, aye, captain."

Angelus gave him one more warning look before continuing to speak, "Willow will be showing you around today. I've arranged to have some clothing shipped in and if you do not like them, she will accompany you for more. Willow." He nodded to her then looked to Buffy.

"Take care of her. Whatever she wants." And with that, the Master vampire turned and walked away.

As he stalked off, Buffy desperately wanted to call him back. As much as she knew she had distaste for him, he was the most familiar thing she had. She slowly turned to her 'keepers' and gave them a once over.

Xander was dressed very simply, but stylishly so. He had a plain black button down shirt quirkily paired with a pair of brown pants. While pristinely pressed and obviously expensive, they were put together without pretentiousness. His collar and top buttons were open revealing a series of different necklaces and chains. His smile was infectious and as much as she wanted to generalize him, along with the rest of the Aurelius, his eyes seemed quite friendly.

Willow was a different matter entirely. While Xander seemed more outgoing, she seemed almost reserved. As if she always knew a secret but was keeping it to herself. Her clothes were relaxed, a soft russet colored skirt with a dark green V neck top. She wore no jewelry except a golden pentagram on her left ring finer. Her hair was a beautiful red with faint highlights of pure white going through them. Her brownish green eyes were large and expressive and showed no signs of malice, though she could feel how powerful she was.

"Hello, Buffy. It's nice to meet you." Willow smiled and stretched out her hand.

Buffy, still unwilling to let her guard down, shook hands with the vampiress and gave a short grunt of reciprocation.

"I know you don't trust me, or any of us really, and that is to be expected and respected. Hopefully during your stay with us we'll change your mind."

There was a warm, peaceful aura from Willow that Buffy silently welcomed. She gave a slight nod to her, but remained unspeaking and turned her attention to Xander.

Noticing her blank stare and saw that she was looking for an explanation from him, he smiles broadly, "Oh, yeah Buffster. The Aurelius brood is known for being violent, malicious leaders, who are also amazing lovers by the way, but we're also pretty damned cool. Why don't we get this show on the road already?"

Buffy gave the smallest hint of a little, which came out looking more like a grimace, and nodded again. She followed them as they led the way to her room.

*

*

*

"So, what are we going to do now, Master Rayne?" Parker asked slightly sheepish. Ethan had required Parker to call him Master whenever they were alone.

Ethan's face had been tight full of anger and he hadn't uttered one word their entire trip home. They had finally made it into the mid sized home when Parker asked the question. With a ferocious growl Ethan grabbed the young vampire by the neck and lifted him up against the door. "What did you do with her?"

The fear in Parker's eyes doubled as he realized his keeper did not believe his story. He gripped his own hands around the ones clutching his neck and attempted to sputter out a reply.

Ethan raised him a little higher and threw him across the room. Blindingly fast, he was hovering over Parker and dirty boot planted in the middle of his chest, "Where is she you pathetic little whelp?!"

"I don't know, Master! I swear it! We were driving away when-"

He dug his boot deeper, "Driving away? You weren't supposed to take her anywhere! She was supposed to stay exactly where she was!"

Parker grimaced as he heard the tell tale crack of a rib breaking, "I know, Master… I'm sorry. I didn't have a choice! Please…"

Finally Ethan relented and removed foot. "She was supposed to be captured, Parker. Or did you not understand the plan that we went over and over?"

Parker clutched his side and he painfully sat up, "I understood, Master, but I could no-"

Ethan delivered a punishing kick to Parkers face promptly knocking him back down. "Down! I'm not done with you yet."

*

*

*

Before Angelus walked into his room, he knew he had a visitor waiting for him. Still clad in his black silk, he confidently strolled into his room.

"God, you're such a fucking cliché."

Angelus rolled his eyes at his successor and slammed his door shut, "Get out of my bed."

Spike just smiled and snuggled in more comfortably, "Nah. I'm thinking I like it right here. Besides, you owe me for the shit you pulled tonight."

"You're lucky enough that I haven't killed you over the years. And what is it that I owe you for?"

The blonde vampire quirked a scarred eye, "Leaving me with an angry mob, for one! Two, our bitch of a sister wouldn't stop pestering me about where you went and whose smell you were wearing."

Angelus sighed and sat on the end of the large bed, his back to Spike, "Darla has been taken care of, so never mind that. If you're my lieutenant then you're supposed to do the angry mob controlling."

"Bullocks, I am. Lucky for me, I am charming and good looking and they all left without an issue."

Angelus turned to face him, "There was a riot, eh?"

Spike nodded, his phony story not lasting for a moment, "Just a small one. Nothing the guards couldn't handle shortly. Are you sure you want to be doing this all so drastically? Our people are known for being power thirsty and we both know it's true. They aren't going to take this without a fight, Angelus, and I did not survive this long to simply become a martyr."

"Get over yourself and get out of my bed, blondie." Angelus stood and pulled Spike by the ankles until he toppled onto the floor.

"Oi!" Spike popped back up and moved towards the door intent on leaving, "You don't have to be so rough, you know!"

"Xander is going to be on his way here. Tell him I will meet with him late tomorrow afternoon." Angelus tossed backed the luxurious looking comforter on his bed.

Spike scoffed again, "Whatever… cave man."

"Spike!" He called before the other man could leave the room. The blonde stopped and looked at him impatiently, "… I won't get you killed."

Spike's face softened, knowing that this was as emotional as Angelus could get. Knowing better, he just nodded and left the room.

Though he made it seem like it, Angelus had no intention of going to sleep just yet. Not without seeing his little blonde assassin one more time for the night.

Jen you are amazing. Thank you so much. Esmerada, Dr. B, Cryngle(thanks so much for your actual critics, love it.), Kemowitch, slayrchica, Neo, Abby, DJ Mae... SO many more. Thanks so much for the feedback. It feels really good to work hard on something and for people to actually like it. Sorry, again, that it took me so long.

Happy(belated) Festivus and Happy New Year to all!

Chy