*** The boring stuff you don't really care about: I've recently got 2 jobs. Yes, 2. So, I barely have enough time for sleeping. BUT, the next chapter will be out very soon. Maybe not tomorrow, but defnitely by the weekend. I'm gonna try to do at least 2 every couple weeks. SO sorry about the delay. Hope you guys like this part. Stay tuned for the next chapter, 'cause that's when things get really interesting.
"Well, ladies. This is where I bid you adieu." Xander chimed as they approached the doorway to Buffy's room, "The big guy needs to have a word with me."
Willow nodded, that knowing look flashing across her face once again. "I can handle it from here, Xander."
He returned her nod and looked to Buffy, "You have a good night, my fair maiden."
Buffy tensed as he raised his hand, but soon realized he was simply taking a dramatic bow. Regardless, she stepped back slightly and remained silent.
Xander took notice of her reaction and smiled slyly. "See you ladies, soon."
The Awakener watched the strange vampire saunter off down the hall, before turning her eyes back to Willow.
"Don't mind him Buffy. He's…" she stopped, rethinking her words, "…relatively… harmless."
Buffy gave another grunt, still not feeling chatty.
Willow sighed. Her public speaking may have gotten better, but lying was nothing she was good at. Giving up on trying explaining her clan mate, she opened the door to the room that would now belong to the younger vampire, "Welcome to your room."
Unwillingly Buffy's eyes widen at the sight of the bedroom. Everything was massive. It appeared to the young vampire that she would have to take a running leap just to climb atop the bed. She stepped in and admired the large room.
Willow stepped in behind her and closed the door, "All of the rooms aren't like this, but Angelus decided he'd rather you have the best room in the compound. Next to his, of course."
Buffy gave her a curious look, but did not ask any question. Instead she stepped even further into the room and looked around. Everything was colored in neutral, yet slightly feminine colors. She had expected the blacks and burgundies and chain attached ceilings of Angelus room. Not the mauve and cream coloring of this one.
While Buffy's family was by no means poor, they definitely did not live a decadent life. She could have, if she had chosen to, but she had decided to try being as normal as possible. She had only wanted to be treated as normal as possible.
Willow moved passed her and made her way to the bed, where several boxes lay stacked. She began opening each one and withdrawing different items from inside.
Buffy watched her for a moment, and then made her way towards the bed. As she had thought, it took her a little leap before she was sitting on top of it.
She watched the redhead in silence for a few moments, before deciding to speak, "How can you stand to work for him? You know all of the horrible things he's done."
Willow smiled patiently at her, glad that she had begun speaking, and stopped unloading the boxes, "Angelus is the leader of my Clan, arguably the oldest vampire of any clan left, and, believe it or not, a good friend of mine."
Buffy's face furrowed in disbelief, "It doesn't seem like he could be anyone's friend at all."
Willow laughed softly and shifted the now empty box to the floor. She grabbed another one and began the process again, "Don't get me wrong, he is a vicious leader. He's very old and he didn't get that way from playing the good guy role all the time. But that's not all there is to him. Even though, it seems like it."
Buffy nodded and stayed silent, thinking about what Angelus' assistant was saying. She watched as Willow finished unpacking the box of clothes in and went to inspect what Angelus got her.
"He's got a thing for leather, eh?" She used two fingers to pick up a pair of black leather pants. Her face scrunched in distaste as she eyed the rich material.
"Oh, yeah." Willow shifted through some of the clothes and pulled out some cotton sleep wear. "Just ignore those, for now. I think this will more suit your interest tonight."
Buffy's eyes widened at the clothes in Willow's hands, "Yummy sushi pajamas!"
The pajamas in question were snatched out of Willow's hands. She giggled in return. "I take it you like sushi?"
"Love it." Buffy gripped the smooth material in her hands and then realized that she might have been rude, "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"
"Don't worry about." Willow shook off the incident quickly. She moved the last empty box and, with perfect grace, sat on the bed next to Buffy. "You eat food?"
The Awakener nodded, "I have to eat a mixture of blood and human food. My… my mother would cook just for me."
Willow could help the look of sympathy forming on her face, "You do realize Buffy, that we had absolutely nothing to do with what happened, don't you?"
She kept her eyes down, "No… no, I don't. This is probably a trap. I've been told my entire life about the Aurelius. About Nest, the One with the Angelic face… all of you."
Buffy raised her teary eyes to the advisor, "But, I can't really bring myself to care. I have nothing left to live for, so why should I?"
The redhead tried her best to keep the tears from her eyes. Sometimes she cursed having the ability to be so empathic, "You'll find something, Buffy. I promise you that. I didn't know your parents, but from what I see inside of you, they must have been pretty amazing."
She nodded and moved her eyes downward.
Not wanting to keep the melancholy tone of their conversation, Willow switched topics, "How did you find our compound; let alone get inside of it to find Angelus?"
She looked back up then, "I was trained and trained well." She looked away again, "It's my entire life. I don't have friends. I don't go to parties. I have school and my… I had school and my parents."
Willow frowned, but remained silent and let her continue.
"A human can run 30 miles in a couple of hours. It took me less than half that." She shrugged, "It wasn't too hard to find, either. I'm very observant. You do know living in a town named 'Suilerua' isn't the most original."
The red head cringed, but gave a chuckle of amusement, "It was Master Nests fault. Try telling your Master that his brilliant idea to name the town the reverse of your clans' name wasn't a good idea."
Buffy continued with her story "It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be to get in. Your perimeters were only guarded by two vampires on each end. Because they were on platforms, even though they were vampire, their eyesight was severely limited. They were easy kills. You should really look into resizing the platforms. They're too high."
Willow listened to her story with a look of admiration and shock. The Aurelius compound supposed to be hard to find. Not only that, the young girl had more battle strategy than an army general. "You killed them? How?"
Buffy realized her mistake in saying that she had killed the guards, "Uh…?"
Willow shook her head, "We do not condone murders of our own, but you are in Angelus' care. It doesn't matter now."
The younger vampire didn't look too convince, but cryptically explained herself, "You'd be amazed what a few rocks, a couple of leaves and thick bark can do."
Willow's eyebrows shot up.
"I can sense power. So, I scaled the wall closet to where I could feel it the most. Lucky for me, I chose the exact window."
"Well… you certainly know how to take care of yourself."
Yes, she supposed she could take care of herself. Buffy nodded shortly, tears suddenly welling in her eyes again, "Will you tell me the truth, Willow?"
The redhead could tell the switch of topics would be a serious one and one that she would be able to answer truthfully, "Of course."
"What does Angelus want with me?"
The Awakeners voice was cracked with pure emotion and Willow couldn't deny her honest request.
"I don't know, Buffy." The girl once again broke her eye contact and her posture got rigid, "Wait. Don't get me wrong. Just because I don't know doesn't mean that he intends to do you harm. He's a vampire of his word."
"A vampire who sells his own soul to the Beast has no honor." Buffy snapped and willed the tears from her eyes. She had no time for that right now. Especially not in front of her 'most likely' enemy.
Willows eyes rounded in shock, "The Beast?"
Buffy looked at her knowingly, "Yes. Our clan knows of his trade for power."
The Wiccan laughed heartily for a moment at the suggestion and then turned to her matter of factly, "Angelus never lost his soul, let alone gave it to the Beast."
Buffy's forehead wrinkled in confusion, "Then why would he-"
"As I said, he is a vicious leader and once created, we all learn from our creators. Nest wasn't exactly the most warm and cuddly sire. I'll admit he's cold, and powerful, and manipulative…" She trailed off as she saw that she wasn't winning the girl over and decided to switch tactics.
"Look... I'll let you in on a little secret. Angelus wants to take Aurelius in a new direction. This includes tolerance of the Azilots and every other clan. No more retaliations."
Buffy response was immediate, "It's not going to work."
"I know it seems very far off, but…we're thinking years and possibly decades ahead."
Buffy said a little more firmly, "It's not going to work. We- we killed your entire Ancient Elder line."
"I should have sent you a fruit basket."
Both women stood at the voice at the door of the room, "Angelus." They said at once.
"Been rehearsing that one, have you?" He was in the same clothes as earlier, but the black silk top was buttoned to the second to last button.
"I'll just be leaving now." Willow scurried past his large body and towards the door.
Buffy opened her mouth to protest, but her newly almost-friend was already gone. She stood stiffly against the bed as Angelus moved closer.
"What… what are you doing here?"
The idea of him and her alone in a bedroom was not beneficial to her psyche right now. She already had enough to deal with.
He smiled mischievously at her, "Last time I checked, I live here."
She couldn't help the glare she shot at him, "I meant what are you doing in my- in this room?"
"Well, as my room is right next door," He ignored her look of shock, "when I heard my name, I thought I'd drop in."
"Well… the conversation is over. You can leave now." She turned abruptly and headed to the bathroom, intent on changing into her pajamas.
All of a sudden he was right next to her. He caught her elbow before she could walk out of the room, "Out of all the silk and satin… you choose baggy cotton?"
Her brow furrowed and her mouth was caught in an unintentional pout, "I like sushi…"
A shock to both of them, Angelus was unable to resist her pout, and kissed her.
The pajamas fell to the floor as his lips pressed against hers. Her faint heartbeat picked up as Angelus pressed their bodies together. She couldn't move her hands; they were straight at her sides. After a long moment, she felt herself respond, taking his lead not knowing exactly what she was doing.
His hands slid down her shoulders, to her back, kneading and caressing the tense muscles he found there.
Buffy moaned loudly into his mouth, her hands still stiff, afraid to move anywhere.
Angelus took her moan as a liberty to continue the movement of his talented hands. She shrieked and took a step back as his large hands covered her bottom.
"No!" She looked at him then. He seemed 3 feet taller than her at that moment. His already midnight eyes seemed even darker when they were saturated with lust. His silk boxers were doing the best they could to camouflage his erection, but she could see every detail of his massive manhood.
"You can't… you can't do that!"
"You want it."
"I don't!" She picked up her fallen pajamas, "I want to be home! I want my parents! I don't want to want to rely on someone's faux kindness and I don't want to be molested by some evil demon!" She raged and ran into the bathroom, slamming the door.
Angelus stood in shock for a moment, before a smile lit his face. He sauntered out of the room, making his way to his own. Technically he was telling Buffy the truth when he said his bedroom was right next door. Truth be told, it was several rooms over, but his Master bedroom had connecting tunnels to each room on the second level of the compound.
He smiled again as he neared the regular entrance to his bedroom.
That girl… that girl was something else.
*
*
*
Xander hummed to himself as he made his way down the dimly lit hallway. He hadn't exactly left out on the highest note with dear Buffy, but he figured it would take some time for the girl to warm up to his charms. What Cordelia didn't know, wouldn't her her, right? And there's nothing wrong with a little harmless flirting-
"Don't bother."
Xander snapped out of his thoughts and turned to the voice. Spike. Not exactly one of his most favorite people, especially after what happened that night, "Don't bother doing what, Spike?"
"Visitin' the poof. He claims he's taking a sleep, but I know better. He's probably trying to shag the bent you just left." The cockney vampire lit the cigarette that was hanging from his slightly opened mouth.
Xander frowned at Spikes language, "And how do you know that?"
Spike gave him the dirtiest look he could muster, "I know my sire. He'll meet with you tomorrow at 3pm."
Xander rolled his eyes and muttered, "Whatever," and walked away.
Spike fell in step right behind him.
The brown haired vampire cast him an irritated glance his way, "What are you doing?"
"What's the deal with our fair maiden Willow?" He took a long inhale of his cigarette and blew the smoke towards him.
Xander rolled his eyes again. He had a hard time not doing it with his new 'leader', "She's a lesbian."
Spike scoffed, "She's till insisting on that, is she? Is that why she stayed with the Azilot instead of you?"
"Can you not say the 'A' word while we're in public? And, no. That is not why she stayed. Willow's married."
This time Spike rolled his eyes, "I'm all for two birds making with the sweet & sticky, but marriage?" He tossed his hands up.
Xander studied him for a minute in disbelief, "Are you always this vapid?"
Spike thought seriously on the question for a beat, "Yep. Pretty much."
The pair continued down the hall, not noticing the figure in the corner that heard every word of their conversation.
*
*
*
Buffy calmed herself before going back out into her temporary bedroom. Angelus wasn't in sigh, thank God, so she made her way to the giant bed and climbed on top of it.
She pulled the covers over her and moved until she got comfortable. She looked around the darkened room. It was… cold, unfamiliar. It was too mauve, not pink like her bedroom, the furniture was too grand. The ceiling was too high and didn't have her favorite posters on them or her favorite CD's in the corner. The bed was as comfortable as she thought it would be, but it still wasn't hers. A flash of what she thought her room looked like now, charcoaled and burned flashed through her head.
She gripped the pillow next to her, brining it close to her body.
She had nothing of her own anymore.
No doubt Angelus' feelings, if they could even be called that, for her were purely for power. She maybe slightly naïve, but she was no fool. He may keep his word and not intentionally cause her harm, but she knew better than to believe things would go as smoothly as he said. Even though, she was sure his lust for her wasn't real, she wasn't sure of how to explain her body's reaction to him.
Magic.
It had to be.
Regardless, she wouldn't give in. What would her parents think of her?
What would they say of her right now, accepting 'generosity' from their enemy? Would they be ashamed of her? Would they give her up willingly as Master Holtz did his own Awakener daughter?
Most Awakeners didn't survive to be 19 and none past 21. They were either hunted by another clan, and consumed for power like a poacher would Ivory, or, not so often in the last century, exiled or executed by their own people.
Though she was an Awakener, her body would turn to dust, albeit bright gold, just like any other vampire. Thankfully, she had her Watcher, who had saved her several times from said fate. Oh God… Giles…
He had breathed down her neck heavily, but she loved her Watcher. What could he be going through right now in her absence? It was all too much for her poor exhausted body to comprehend.
She gripped the pillow tighter, her knuckles turning a pale white. She clutched it to her face, hoping to quiet her tears as she cried herself to sleep.
The next part will be longer. I promise. Things are extremely exhausting in my life right now, but I can't imagine a better time in my life. Send me amazing energy por favor,
Chyna