A/N: Okay, more details here. The fifth chapter of Passion was taking so damn long, and I couldn't figure out why, until I looked back on the site and discovered that I effing hated the original fourth chapter that I posted. The whole thing was this arduous angst-fest that nearly had me puking. No joke. That in mind, I rewrote the whole thing, and this is what I came up with.

I was moved from my great, lovely home and moved to shit-land, so my whole writing schedule is off. To make up for this, I wrote these great new prologues that explain lots and set up lots of other plot lines. I'm also currently working on Chapter V of this story, which will be posted soon.

Those of you who read my story The Gift, also on this site, only in the Angel section: I will be removing that chapter until I'm done with this story, because I feel that that's a good story, and needs to be given the right amount of time to develop.

Disclaimer: As stated in previous chapters

Distribution: As stated in previous chapters

A/N 2: Okay, so, once again, I'm sorry. Now that you are up to speed, hasten to read and review all of my lovely new chapters, please. Without further ado, I give you an actually good version of:

the Passion of Angels and Demons

Chapter IV

The Balcony Scene, Part II

There was a war being waged on the sweet chocolate battlefield of Xander's eyes. Angelus watched his boy, careful to not touch, trying to appear non-threatening. At this point, the boy's mind would be lashing out, searching for a bad guy to focus on, to fight. Angelus needed him to see the demon as a source of protection, or Xander would be lost to him.

His demon roared in furious rage at the very thought, and Angelus had to forcibly prevent himself from shuddering. The bloodlust from the intoxicating scent given off by his unwitting Cruor Aduro was driving him mad; but there was a deeper possessiveness to the anger...well, he could sort out his strange feelings later. Right now, all of his considerable focus needed to be on Xander.

MINE! his demon raged possessively.

Emotions rippled across Xander's face. It could be so easy to break him, Angelus thought. Those who wore their hearts and their emotions so expressively were usually easy to destroy - and he had a lot of practice. True masters of torture knew that physical pain could only get you so far before the natural defences of humankind made their nerves immune to the pain, building up their defiance and leaving them physically broken. Mental torture was needed to offset the physical, to break through their mind's defences and leaving them broken and shattered, with only a sick psychological need for their captors.

The vampiric slave trade had many such humans ready for the enterprising vampire or demon, and Angelus himself had contributed a tiresome slave or two to the cattle auctions.

Xander was one of those individuals who would show the intuitive captor his mental breaking points very easily, leaving him open for a world of pain. Soulboy had recognised this weakness and tried to protect him, but had been too caught up in trying to be "good enough" for the Slayer to respond to the obvious desire that had radiated from Xander's body.

Doubt, indecision, desire, shame from the latter, fear - Xander was obviously feeling a little volatile. It was time to start applying the persuasion.

"Nothing to say, sweeting?" Angelus asked, the endearment falling easily from his lips. He could see Xander instinctively responding to it, a part of him, however small, hungrily aching for affection. It made Angelus angry, that his boy should feel like he had to earn love.

But the flash of rage in Angelus' eyes was enough to break the half-hypnotic hold he'd gotten on Xander, and the boy began to back away quickly, his eyes flickering like a nervous animal to any possible avenues of escape. Fuck, Angelus cursed silently.

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about, Deadboy!" Xander spat, trying desperately to get away from the predator who was slowly and steadily advancing on his frightened prey. Xander could feel the Darkness inside of himself like a physical thing, ready to explode...there were times when holding down that strange, primal force inside of his soul became difficult - like right then, for instance.

That...otherness, that primal roar of pure animal fury in the darkness of Xander's subconcious, wanted Angelus. And, frightening as it was, so did a part of Xander himself.

"Don't you?" Angelus asked innocuously. That damn smile was back, and Xander wanted to beat it off of the demon's smirking face. The yellow eyes and strange ridges and vicious fangs were strangely beautiful to Xander; always had been, really. It was just so...natural. And, that thought giving him a maxi-wiggins, as Buffy would put it, sent him backing away again, ready at any second to rush for his friends, to get away.

"Can't you feel it now, inside of you, Xander?" Angelus breathed reverently. Xander froze, stunned. He was finding himself unable to move away, and he didn't care.

"What? " Xander rasped. No one else knew...no one...

"The darkness...deep down inside..." Angelus breathed, moving even closer.

"How..." Xander trailed off. It was time to run. He coiled his muscles like a spring, ready to fire off at the slightest provocation. He was stopped by the cool and somehow soothing hand that ran slowly, comfortingly over his overheated face.

Angelus closed his eyes in rapture as he traced out every line of his lovely boy's face, that powerfully tempting blood pumping under his hand as large chocolate orbs stared up at him, frozen. Idly, a quote from Steppenwolf came to mind - In fear I hurried this way and that. I had the taste of blood and chocolate in my mouth, the one as hateful as the other...but Xander represented the perfect synthesis of the two, and Angelus somehow knew that if he kissed the boy, there would be no one else for him, ever.

The intensity of his feelings scared him somewhat, but there was a thrill to the danger of falling - it was a knife edge that both boy and vampire found themselves walking together, hand in hand.

"Hush, mo chroi," Angelus murmured, reverently stroking Xander's face. "I'm not going to hurt you."

This was stated as blunt fact, as if it were the law. And for some reason, Xander found himself believing that seductive voice without question.

Angelus fought down the urge to moan as Xander unconsciously leant forward into his soothing touch. Gods below, his boy was so fucking hot! A brief image of Xander grinding himself wantonly against Angelus' prodigious erection prompted a sigh of pleasure as he imagined how fiery hot and tight his boy would be on the inside when he was sliding himself deep inside...

"No one ever knew," Xander muttered to himself, absently rubbing against Angelus' hand, mutely seeking comfort. Angelus couldn't help the approving and pleasured purr that rumbled up and out of his chest. Xander smiled hesitantly at the reassuring sound, and he allowed himself to be drawn back against Angelus' chest.

"Why didn't they know, Xander?" Angelus murmured in his ear, the purring a soothing thrum against his back. The sound put him in mind of warmth, of home. He closed his eyes tightly at the thoughts.

"It scares me...sometimes..." Xander trailed off, his eyes opening again and fixing unseeingly on his friends. If he noticed Angelus' massive erection, he didn't say anything, or give any indication. Instead he just stared, glassy-eyed and slightly unaware, into a distance that only he could see. Talking about this was somehow comforting - knowing that someone else, anyone else knew the secret made it easier to bear. He turned around with a slightly playful smile. "You always did put me in mind of a big cat, you know," he commented casually to the vampire.

"Aye?" Angelus asked with a very tiger-like grin. He rubbed himself meaningfully against Xander's front. "Well, you can feel free to pet me whenever you like," he whispered with a wicked little smile. Xander gave him an uncertain look in return, his eyes speaking volumes: How could you ever want me? Angelus once again found himself cursing his boy's uncertainty. He'd never get through to Xander if the boy didn't trust him completely. Well, Angelus thought, I'll just have to show him how much he is desired.

"I don't think you believe me, boyo," Angelus growled, his yellow demon's eyes glowing. Xander shrugged carelessly, turning to face the crowd again, unwilling to meet his face. He yelped in surprise and pan as Angelus casually slapped his ass again. Twin thick, cold, iron-hard bars that were Angelus' arms wrapped around his waist, crushing him against Angelus' strong, firmly muscled chest.

"Now, what can we do to correct that little...misunderstanding?" Angelus mused aloud, possessively clutching his boy to his chest.

Feeling the size of the mammoth erection pressing insistently into the small of his back apparently did the trick for most of Xander's brain, because his mind decided to shut down without even an eep! of warning. Xander felt his face burning as he remembered private midnight fantasies where the only relief was a painfully fast bout of masturbation.

"Guh…" Xander said intelligently. Angelus chuckled behind him, a basso profundo sound that jolted through Xander's body like a living thing.

"Believe me now?" Angelus asked innocently. Xander turned to give him a half-hearted glare as he spotted his cat-ate-the-canary grin.

"A truth spell?" Buffy asked uncertainly. She sat back once Willow was done whispering in her ear, and she checked to see that no one was around their little table when she posed the question. The redhead's wide eyes also glanced around, but Buffy was relaxed; she was the Slayer, and her senses for vamps and other nasties were a bit more pronounced than Willow or Xander's.

"It could be the only thing, Buffy," Willow said after a moment. "I mean, you know how stubborn Xander can be when he's got his mind set on something. Right now he'd rather move to another town than tell us what's wrong, and if it's something big, then maybe we can find a way to head it off," Willow continued. Buffy had to see the logic in this.

"Well, I don't know, Wills…I mean, it still feels kind of…intrusive," Buffy said hesitantly.

"Oh, it is," Willow said earnestly. "It's barely even allowed with the whole Wiccan Rede thing. But I was talking about it to Miss Calendar, and she says—"

"Oh, and all of sudden we're supposed to trust everything she says?" Buffy snapped coldly. "Because the last time she held out on us, my boyfriend turned into the most evil creature of the night this side of Satan, and she turned out to be a Gypsy posing as a computer teacher."

Willow sighed internally. She'd been debating telling Buffy about this first before Giles, and she'd decided to run it by Buffy first. Willow was certain that this was the best way to get whatever was making Xander do the wacky out into the open, which would be better for everyone involved.

The main problem with her solution was the Miss Calendar angle. Willow wasn't anywhere near a strong enough witch to do a truth hypnosis yet, and she would never attempt to try it without her teacher in the magic arts. On the other hand, it was partly Miss Calendar's fault that Angel had reverted to Angelus – it had been her family that had first performed the Ensoulment Curse, and she had originally been sent to Sunnydale to ensure that he still suffered.

The problem with this being that she and Giles, Buffy's Watcher and the school librarian, had fallen love. She hadn't been able to tell him who she was because loyalty to the Gypsy family had been drilled into her head since she could crawl. It all would have gone well, until Angel had lost his soul, leading Buffy to have one of her prophetic Slayer visions of Jenny's involvement.

Since she'd exposed Jenny as a Gypsy, Giles and Jenny hadn't spoken, even though Willow and Buffy could both tell that they wanted to. Buffy was angry that Jenny didn't have nearly the skill or the proper supplies and rituals to curse Angelus with his soul again. Willow was still the only one of the Scooby Gang that spoke to Jenny (not that Xander had any problem with her, per se, he just had never been in position to know her enough to care), due to her continued education in witchcraft.

Ordinarily, when Buffy got a closed expression like the one she had on right now, Willow would drop the subject. But Xander and she had been friends since she was five-and-a-half years old; there was no way that if there was the slightest danger to him the she could prevent, she wouldn't try, no matter how she had to go about it.

"I'm serious, Buffy – this might be our only choice," Willow said angrily. Before Buffy could even open her mouth for a response, Willow knew that she had to play her trump: the Guilt Card. "And besides, you know that Giles has been all bad and moody since they stopped talking," Willow said easily. Buffy stopped.

Willow knew that the break-up weighed heavily on Buffy's mind; her father had pulled a disappearing act after he'd returned Buffy to Sunnydale after her summer in LA, and Giles had been like a father and mentor to her ever since. Part of her blamed herself for anything that made Giles miserable, and she glared at Willow in irritation – she knew exactly what the redheaded witch was doing.

Willow smiled as she easily accepted the victory. "Alright, I'll tell Giles what we're going to do tomorrow, and then we can work on supplies and rituals."

"You've always known you were different from others, didn't you?" Angelus asked. Xander didn't have an answer ready, not one that he wanted to give, anyway. This whole conversation shouldn't even be happening! Here he was, getting revelations and come-ons from a vicious mass-murdering demon (who kept spanking him!), and he wasn't even shaking.

"You've always had something inside that told you that you were better."

And Xander wanted to moan guiltily, from remembering the times when he'd almost wanted to slap Buffy when she started being blonde – he shook himself firmly.

"I'm not better than anyone," Xander said angrily. "And I'm not different––"

"Liar," Angelus said coldly. "You are different because we both know it, as does every little demon who can't seem to keep from trying to get in your pants – ever wonder why that is, Xanny?" he asked mockingly. Xander was shaking now, shaking and trying to get away from the insidiously sensuous voice that was saying everything and nothing that he wanted to hear.

"It's because they're females – and they're demons. They can smell what you are from a mile away, and the mating would provide power, a thing highly coveted in the demon world," Angelus went on, sounding like the literal version of the teacher from Hell.

"And what, you think that you can get power from me?" Xander demanded, trying to sound brave but aware of the slight squeak in his voice.

"I don't want your power," Angelus said bluntly. "I want you."

Xander couldn't even hear the sound system anymore. There was the loudest silence he'd ever heard ringing in his ears, but somehow every word Angelus was saying was breaking through into his mind, whispering words that he wanted to bat away and also gather to his chest at the same time.

"But you still have no idea what I'm talking about when I say your power, do you, boy o' mine?" he asked, the Irish brogue rolling sibilantly (sexily, as Xander would not let himself think) off of the demon's tongue and between his fangs.

Xander shook his head mutely, jerkily – a visible denial of the truth of Angelus' words, but his actions belied the affected air of casual disbelief, the demon was pleased to see. This was proving to be easier than Angelus had originally planned for – there was a unique rapport forming in his mind between him and his boy, and he was finding Xander's actions strangely anticipated. Was this normal for a vampire to feel for a Cruor Aduro?

"I'm talking about your father," Angelus said simply. He expected shock, or maybe denial. What he got was…

Laughter. All Xander could do was giggle stupidly. "My father? What, my special power is supposed to be getting drunk?" he asked glibly. "My father is one of the biggest wastes of space on this planet – if this is the best you can come up with, you can go burn in–"

"I'm talking about your real father," Angelus said bluntly. Xander froze.

"Wh-wha…what do you mean?" Xander asked, sounding small and frightened. Angelus smirked.

"I mean, the man who fucked your mother and produced you, your father, your parent…must I go on?" he asked innocently, purposefully misunderstanding the question.

"I don't know where the fuck you're coming up with this, but there's a certified fucking document that says Tony Harris is my dad," Xander said angrily. "I don't have to stay up here and play around with your pathetic little mind-fucks anymore! If this is the best you can do, you might as well try your luck with Buffy hand-to-hand for once, and I'll fucking laugh when she kicks your ass!" he finished, yelling and not caring about who heard him.

"Careful, boy," Angelus hissed. But Xander was way beyond anger at this point, too enraged to care much about the consequences. He'd dance in the fire and laugh, and he' d rather die than show how much the vampire's words were rattling him.

"Or you'll what?" Xander sneered derisively. "Suck me dry? Rip my head off and use it as a soccer ball? Torture me for hours? All you are is talk – you haven't done anything since Buffy took the Judge out but talk and send pathetic little love letters–"

It was what a vampire would normally refer to as a 'love tap;' Spike or Dru would have laughed and gone for the throat if anyone had hit them that hard. As it was, Xander got thrown to the floor, his head spinning, and a lurid red mark already forming across his cheek. No stranger to punishment he, Xander leapt back to his feet with a grace that he hadn't known he possessed and smashed his fist full-force into Angelus' face.

The vampire jerked back with a snarl, and Xander turned to head back down the stairs as fast as his unsteady feet could carry him. He got about three steps before Angelus caught up with him and lifted him straight off of the floor by the scruff of his neck, like a kitten who'd done something to piss off Mommy.

"There are obviously a few things I need to remind you of, boyo," Angelus snarled, his enraged demonic visage mere inches from Xander's own. "Firstly, that I've got just about everyone in the Bronze primed for a mass slaughter – which would be your fault. Secondly, I've got both o'your friends directly primed to die tonight – which would be your fault. Thirdly, you know what I'm telling you is true, else you wouldn't of stayed up here as long as you have."

"And fourth: if you ever hit me again, I'll teach you what pain is," he said, his voice deathly quiet. Xander nodded frantically, feeling a strange urge to just submit. He decided to trust his instincts, and was the first to drop the staring contest that he'd found himself in. Angelus nodded his approval and let Xander go.

Xander dropped nearly a foot to the floor, and stood rubbing the back of his neck while he carefully didn't look in Angelus' direction. The demon snorted and moved to stand in Xander's line of sight. "Do you want to hear this or not?" he asked, irritated.

Xander had about a minute to consider.

His world was shattering into pieces; everything that he'd taken for granted was sizzling into nothing. There was a roaring in his head, like a song that was waiting for the opening notes, and he had a strange flash of memory, of himself moving through the world in a dream, in a trance. Memories that had stayed locked safely away for a long time were open for viewing, and he stared up at the impassive face of the vampire before him.

In the end, there was only one thing he could say, to him, to Angelus. Xander felt owned, as if Angelus had already marked the place in his heart that Angel had wormed into without Xander's wish. He threw himself up to the fire, to the strange song in his heart, and said the only thing he could say.

"Yes."

A/N: Okay, there's only going to be one more balcony scene, which will be the next chapter, in which Jessica Harris' story gets unveiled. After which, the whole thing explodes and spirals far away from canonical Buffy. One thing that I'm going to unveil right now – Passion, the episode that this part of the story is taking place in, is NOT the episode where Jenny uncovers the secret to re-cursing Angelus.

Don't be looking for Jenny to be dead. I like her; she'll be around for a while.

And again, thanks to all of my reviewers – without you, I might have lost heart and just given up when my life got all screwed up…again.

Until the next update (which should be by the end of this week)

Blessed be,

PyroPadawan.