Service Unit

Chapter Twenty Five – Safeguards

"A prophecy."

"Yes."

"And you need my help."

"Well, not yours, exactly. I actually just need Spike."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "God, how full of shit are you? You didn't call to bitch at Spike for stealing your car, and I know you, that would have been the first thing you did as soon as you got back from the airport, but you knew he wasn't here then, didn't you? You knew he wouldn't be delivered for a week, so you waited until AFTER I called to verify that he'd arrived, and then you got on a plane and now all of a sudden there's a prophecy. That's very convenient, Angel. What the hell are you really here for?"

Liam sighed. "I didn't call to 'bitch at Spike' for the car because it wouldn't make any difference and would just be a waste of time. I don't know anything about how Spike ended up in a packing crate, but knowing him, he probably pissed off the wrong demon and they thought it would be funny to ship a vampire to the Slayer. Who knows? And I didn't know about the prophecy until this morning. Wes came to me with the scroll and told me the basics and I got on the plane. He called while I was in the air and told me the rest. It's bad, Buffy. The First is back."

Buffy snorted. "The First. Right. The First that Spike obliterated in the Hellmouth six months ago followed me to Rome? I don't think so."

"I'm not lying, Buffy. And we don't have time for this."

"Oh, we have enough time for you to make with the splainy, so you'd better get on it before I go get my bat."

Liam sighed again, wishing that he'd just knocked her out as soon as she'd invited him in. Then he could have taken Spike and they'd be well on their way to having some fun, but being that he was currently at somewhat of a disadvantage, he'd have to keep trying to talk his way out of his restraints. He schooled his features into an earnest expression. "Spike didn't kill The First; he just wounded it because at the time we didn't know that the amulet had to be powered by two Champions, not just one. So Spike and I have to go down to the catacombs where The First has set up shop and hit it with the amulet again."

Buffy shook her head. "Uh-Uh. Nope. Not gonna happen. The amulet dusted Spike, then sucked him into the thing and spit him out as a ghost the last time he used it. You're freaking crazier than Dru if you think I'm gonna put him through that again. I just got him back and I'm not going to lose him, Angel. So no catacombs and no amulet. Period."

Keeping his face set in such an earnest expression was starting to make his cheek muscles hurt. "You won't lose him. If we're both there, it will work the way it's supposed to. It will obliterate The First and won't dust either of us." He changed up the earnest expression for one that was pleading, throwing in just a bit of an, 'it hurts that you don't believe me' pout as he said with just a hint of a whine, "Call Wes if you don't believe me. He can confirm everything I've told you."

Buffy held up her hand. "I just might, but right now I need you to shut up. I need to think." She turned and walked to the other side of the living room as she tried to figure out just what the hell was going on. Angel says he doesn't know anything about the crate, and he looked sincere when he said it… but what about what the trainer said? That Spike was a gift from Angel? Which one of them do I believe? All I have to go on is what the trainer told me because it's not like I can call the shipping company's customer service line to verify anything. Angel says that Spike left last week – and I can totally see Spike stealing Angel's car and doing all the other stuff Angel said he did – and if what Angel says is true, then Spike left LA on Wolfram and Hart's plane. So what happened to him between there and here?

She turned and looked at the vampire who was lying quietly trussed up on her living room floor. What if someone is trying to set Angel up for some reason? He probably has a lot of enemies who would like to see him dusted, but why go to all this trouble? Why would they kidnap Spike and torture him for over two decades before sending him to me? What the hell is that about?

Her eyes widened. Maybe they aren't strong enough or whatever to kill Angel themselves, and can't get to him at the law firm anyway, so they thought they'd get me pissed enough to do it for them. It's not exactly a secret how I feel about Spike, so hurting him would be a guaranteed way to make me want to kill whoever was responsible. And they're pointing my stake right at Angel.

She stared at the vampire's face as he rested his cheek on the rug. He'd closed his eyes while he was waiting, but she could see the tension thrumming through him as he tried to be patient and give her the time she needed. She walked back over to him and sat down on the edge of the couch. "I want to believe you, Angel, I do, but… You really don't know what Spike's been through? What's happened to him?"

Liam opened his eyes and looked up at her, giving her the most innocent expression he could muster. "What are you talking about? Did they rough him up before they sent him to you?" He cut his eyes to the half-buttoned shirt she was wearing. "Couldn't have been very bad if you've 'worn him out' like you said."

"He was in pretty bad shape when he got here, but he's nearly healed now because I've been…" She bit down on the words then sat in silence for a few seconds. For some reason, telling Angel that she'd been giving Spike her blood didn't seem to be the best idea. She couldn't pin down why, but Angel – or Angelus – having that information made a cold shiver race down her spine.

She narrowed her eyes and peered down at the vampire. "I'm going to ask you something and if I feel like you're lying to me at all… well… I killed you once, and I'll do it again."

XXXX

Spike was leaning against the headboard, his eyes wide and frightened as he listened to the goings on in the living room. That wasn't Angel. Oh, he sounded like Angel to someone who had only known him as Angel or Angelus, but… the inflection applied to certain words and the hint of Irish brogue that colored others were a dead giveaway. That was Liam. Spike shivered. Liam was out there with Buffy. They were so completely buggered.

William had spent his 'formative years' as a vampire listening to that voice… and learning to obey that voice or risk reprimand. Liam's punishments were... severe, but the punishments hadn't always been given to him. Drusilla had suffered for his insolence and disobedience on several occasions. Liam hadn't been above ordering a minion to whip the skin from her back because William had dared to contradict him. One time she'd been whipped for nearly a full day with a cat-o-nine tails soaked in holy water because William had rolled his eyes at something Liam had said. And, of course, William had been shackled and forced to watch as Drusilla screamed and sobbed, the whip snapped harder against her flesh each time William had looked away.

And now Liam was out there with Buffy. Yes, he was secured – Spike had very nearly cheered when he'd heard the manacles snap into place – but he was also a silver-tongued devil, able to talk his way out of almost anything. And Buffy had loved Angel – really and truly loved him – so she would be even more susceptible to his words, more prone to taking whatever he said at face value. If he was able to convince her that he wasn't lying and she let him loose...

Spike flipped the covers back and turned, sliding to the edge of the bed. He put his feet on the floor then struggled to stand up. Uposs was fighting him tooth and claw because of Buffy's command to stay in bed, and Spike's body was shaking and shuddering as he gripped the edge of the mattress tightly in his fists, pushing against it with all his might.

He finally managed to push to his feet then stood there, still shaking as he turned his upper body toward the door. His feet may as well have been nailed to the floor because they didn't move. Not even a millimeter. Spike turned back and closed his eyes, taking deep breaths as he tried to reason with Uposs instead of fighting it. Yes, she told me to stay in bed, but then after that, she told me to stay in the room. The most recent order is the one I'm meant to follow, so I'm allowed to get up and move around.

Uposs seemed to buy that and Spike turned, taking halting steps toward the bedroom door. He had to get out there and warn Buffy not to trust Liam – not to listen to anything he said. Liam was up to something, and whatever that something was wouldn't be good for either of them. Liam was a sadistic, perverted bastard, and Spike didn't even want to imagine what he had in mind for Buffy… not after all the things he'd done to Drusilla as punishment, or just for... fun.

Liam hadn't been overly kind to William, either, but Spike could take whatever he dished out, especially now. His time with the demon slavers had suitably conditioned him to be able to handle Liam's most depraved and degenerate ideas of an 'enjoyable night at home,' but Buffy couldn't. Buffy wouldn't be able to cope with being strapped down, whipped, raped, and then repeatedly sodomized with whatever items Liam found to hand. William had had some odd things shoved up his arse by Liam when he was in a 'playful' mood, and Spike DID NOT want to watch Buffy experience being violated by whatever phallic items Liam could find in her living room. And if he found Spike's crate of slave toys... Spike shivered so hard that his teeth clacked together and he had to stop walking for a few seconds until he'd regained some measure of control.

Spike started walking again and made it to the bedroom door then couldn't make his legs answer him any longer. His feet were once again nailed to the floor and his mind was awash with terror… so much so that he never even considered shouting a warning to Buffy – he'd completely forgotten that he could speak… and he stood at the threshold, his hands clenching and unclenching in frustrated fists as he listened to the lies pouring from Liam's mouth.

XXXX

Liam swallowed hard and nodded. He already knew what she was going to ask, and he'd spent some time preparing for this question while he was waiting on the plane. He'd rehearsed several different responses then had settled for shock and just a touch of outrage, and now that the moment was upon him, he was almost eager. If he pulled this off, he'd be leaving Rome with his new toy… after having a little fun first, of course. And once he had Spike tucked away in the meeting room at Wolfram and Hart, Buffy would never be able to get to him. She could attack the building using every Slayer on the planet, every witch she could dig up, tanks, missiles, demons, a dragon, and a partridge in a pear tree, and it wouldn't make any difference. Oh, she'd eventually break through the building's defenses and yeah, she'd probably dust him on sight, but… he had an ace in the hole.

He'd had one of Wolfram and Hart's mages ward the meeting room threshold to only accept the passage of Aurelian vampires. No one else would be able to enter the room, so even if Buffy managed to find the room and get the door open, she wouldn't be able to go any further. Liam swallowed the smirk that wanted to surface as he pictured poor little Buffy, standing at the door to the meeting room, unable to get to Spike even though he was only twenty feet away. Liam could almost smell the tears that Buffy would be shedding as she watched her lover struggling against the chains that secured him to the wall. Magicked, unbreakable chains that would hold him there for the rest of his existence.

Another smirk tried to wriggle free as he thought of the bonus addendum he'd had the mage work into the warding spell. If he couldn't get inside the room and Buffy did manage to dust him, the suspension spell on the room would cease to operate, and all of Spike's body processes would return to normal. It took a long time for a vampire to starve to death, and because of the time difference in the meeting room, Buffy would get to watch Spike deteriorate before her eyes until there was nothing left of him but a desiccated corpse hanging in chains.

Just imagining Buffy and Spike's pain and anguish made Liam as hard as stone and he surreptitiously pressed his cock against the floor as he asked, "What do you want to know?"

Buffy leaned down just a little, her eyes fixed on Angel's face. "Did you lose your soul again? Are you evil?"

Liam flashed the expression of shock and outrage he'd so carefully practiced as he said, "Why does everybody think that?" He let his features morph into what he hoped would look like sincerity. "Buffy, if I was Angelus, I swear you'd already know. Apparently Giles didn't tell you, but there are safeguards in place at Wolfram and Hart. I showed them to Andrew. If I lose my soul, and the seers sense that it's gone, then a number of people are notified. Giles is one, I think Willow is one, and you're supposed to be one. The Senior Partners need me to have my soul or it'll throw off the balance of good and evil like it did when Spike became corporeal. There was this thing with a cup in an opera house…" Liam sighed in fabricated frustration. "Wes could explain it better. There's stuff about forces and magical energy and dimensional shift and a prophecy… not the one I'm here about, a different one… but I don't remember it all."

He closed his eyes for a few seconds then looked up at Buffy, radiating all the 'I'm Angel' sincerity he could summon. "I am NOT Angelus."

Buffy stared at Angel, watching his face carefully for any sign of deception, but she found none. His explanations made sense… well, as much sense as anything did when dealing with the supernatural world… and as far as she could tell, he was speaking the truth. He didn't know what had happened to Spike and he wasn't the one responsible for all the torture Spike had endured.

She sat back with a sigh and ran her fingers through her hair then stood up. "I'm sorry for hitting you, Angel. Apparently I got some bad information." She fetched the keys from the closet and knelt next to Angel's calves, unlocking the manacles on his ankles and then stretching to unlock the ones on his wrists.

He lowered his hands to the floor and started to turn over as she leaned over to set the keys on the coffee table. She straightened back up just in time to take a savage punch to her left temple. She bounced off the coffee table she'd just deposited the keys on and crumpled into a boneless heap on the rug.

Liam rubbed at his wrists then got to his feet. He bent down and picked up a set of the manacles then reached for Buffy's left arm. "So nice of you to supply these for me, Buffy. I only brought one pair with me, you see, so I'd have had to take little Willy somewhere else for a little fun before we go home, but now…" He clamped the manacles tightly around her wrists then rolled Buffy to her back and reached for the other set. "...you'll get to watch the festivities."

He secured the manacles around her ankles then stood up, reaching down to give his cock a hard squeeze through his pants. "And once I'm done with Willy... it'll be your turn." He swept the top of the coffee table clear with one arm then picked her up, grasping the chains on each set of manacles, and roughly deposited her there with a thump. He stood back and looked down at her with a ferocious grin. "I'd only planned to take Willy back with me – I'll be able to have fun with him for decades – but now that I have two sets of manacles..."

He reached down and lifted Buffy's hands, raising them above her head then letting them drop to the table top. The manacles cracked loudly against the wood then he reached for Buffy's silk shirt, ripping it open and scattering buttons across the living room rug. He reached for her panties next, twisting them in his fist and tearing the cloth away from her body. Then he stood back and looked down at her. "Two toys for the price of one. I come up with the best ideas. God, I love being me!"

He bent down again, laying his hands on her breasts, and then he squeezed. Hard. There were finger shaped bruises on Buffy's flesh when he stood up and turned toward the couch. He stepped to it and knelt down on the floor, bending down to look under it so he could locate the item he'd noticed earlier when he'd been laying bound on the floor. He slipped his hand into the small space then pulled it back with a triumphant smile. He stood up, bouncing the trainer's guide stick on his palm as he turned back to Buffy. "Wonder if I'll be able to train you to respond to this as well as Willy does." He whipped the stick down, cracking it sharply across the underside of Buffy's right breast. A bright red welt rose almost immediately and Liam chuckled. "Although I don't think I'm supposed to 'tap' you quite that hard." He hit the underside of her left breast, raising a matching welt, then he brought the stick down four more times, once across the top of each breast and once across each nipple. He stood looking at her inflamed and puffy flesh for a few long minutes as he squeezed and stroked himself through his pants. "I really do love being me."

He gripped the stick tightly in one hand as he rubbed the other in rhythmic motions across his hard-as-steel cock and started for the bedrooms, calling out in a teasing voice as he walked, "Willy? Where are you, little Willy? It's time to play."