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Soul Illusion

Page history last edited by nate 14 years, 11 months ago

Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the recognisable characters here in; the ones from Buffy/Angel are the property of Joss whedon and co; Greg belongs to the makers of CSI. No money was made in the making of this fic.

A/N: //thoughts & internal dialogue//; ~~prophecy~~

 


 

Soul Illusion

 

Skip to:


Chapter 1

 

The door to the hotel slammed open and Angel looked up from where he was sat reading the daily paper. The sight that greeted him raised an eyebrow and a small smile tugged at his lips. Shaggy, long brunette hair that hung in chocolate brown eyes and curled down around his ears and the back of his neck to rest on his shoulders; a light stubble roughening his sweet face. The vampire’s eyes slid appreciatively over tight black jeans and the muscular body that was emphasised by a tight fitting burgundy shirt.

 

“Harris.” He said and stood. “You’re looking…” //good, edible, delicious, infinitely fuckable// “…well.”

 

“Deadboy.” Xander nodded and slowly closed the space between them.

 

Angel couldn’t get past the changes in the ex-Scooby. He was used to scrawny Xander Harris, running off at the mouth and tripping over his own feet in a noble but clumsy attempt to aid in saving the world. It was amazing how many times he’d succeeded in providing that help and how he was still alive. He realised that he was looking into two sleepy chocolate brown eyes and his brow furrowed.

 

“Your eye.” Angel stated simply knowing that he’d be understood.

 

“Had a little help with some mojo, grew back good as new. It was as painful as 500 years in hell being flayed daily though.”

 

Angel couldn’t help himself and laughed, a deep rumbling sound, at the reference. “I can imagine”

 

“So, I heard some freaky tales about what’s been going on here.” Xander folded his arms over his chest. “Kinda set me thinking about some things that never quite made sense.”

 

“Oh?” Angel shifted and resisted the urge to fold his arms in what would be mimicking the stance. “What would that be?”

 

Xander looked around the wide-open lobby then leaned towards him and spoke conspiratorially, “perhaps we should go somewhere a little more private.”

The vampire’s inquisitive mind was captured and he led the younger man through to his office in the back, his face a neutral canvas even as he tried to figure out what was to come. He sat down behind his desk and indicated for Xander to take the chair opposite. A pencil found its way into his hand and he fidgeted with it, twiddling it in his fingers while he waited.

 

“It’s the whole… soul slash no soul, angel slash angelus thing.” Xander leaned back in his seat and raised his booted feet to rest on the desk, crossed at the ankles. “It’s a load of bullshit, isn’t it?” It was formulated as a question but it really wasn’t asking… it was telling. He knew the secret that no one else knew. Even the person who helped him piece it together was oblivious to what it all meant.

 

The pencil stilled in Angel’s hands and he raised both eyebrows. Interested. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

 

“The Gypsy curse… didn’t work… couldn’t work. You can’t restore something that wasn’t lost now can you? ‘Angelus’ was a bloodthirsty psychotic killer because Liam was, that’s not about soul that’s just personality and its something that doesn’t change when you’re turned. But even so, when you turn someone… sure they get the demon in them but the soul… or what’s thought of as the soul… doesn’t leave, its still there. And as I said, you can’t restore something that was never lost, so the gypsy curse isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. I guess it was convenient timing for you, what happened? Did you suddenly decide you were bored of the homicidal maniac persona or did you just want to get rid of your annoying “family”? I can understand the need to get away from them… they can get on your last nerve after a while never mind after a century.”

 

Angel wore the carefully sculpted mask of nonchalance, it was almost indifferent to what was being said, but Xander knew he was right, it all made perfect sense. He was sure he could see a twitching at the temple of the dark brooding one.

 

“I guess it doesn’t really matter why. I mean… I’m curious about it but its not like any earth shattering revelation would be made by it. What I am interested in is why you went back to it after… when you screwed Buffy… what was that?”

 

Angel cleared his throat and let a slow smile curl his lips into an almost Spike-like smirk. “Always knew you were the one to watch. Your so-called friends always wrote you off as the weak link… the human with no special powers or abilities, the hanger on. I wasn’t so stupid to under estimate you. I knew that you were the clever one, had to be to survive it all didn’t you?” He leaned forward and locked eyes with the boy; he would always be a boy to the 260 plus year old vampire. “You know the story of what brought about the curse, and while the curse did nothing, the circumstances did. I was in love. He was… beautiful, vibrant, a smile that turned my night into day and had a laugh that could get me hard in seconds. Darla…” He paused.

 

Xander heard the rumble of a growl at the name of the man’s sire. He listened carefully, he was unfazed by being right in what he’d worked out, and he wasn’t afraid of the consequence of pissing Angel off.

 

“She was jealous, the stupid woman. They all are you know, all of them think they own you, can’t stand the thought of you wanting someone else… even when they don’t want you anymore… even when they didn’t want you to start with. She thought I was in love with the gypsy girl. We had fun that night for sure; I proved to her that I didn’t love the girl. I didn’t know who she was… didn’t know she was my boy’s sister. He’d known what I was and said he didn’t care as long as I didn’t kill anyone important to him. The look of pain in his beautiful eyes, the hatred that I could smell from every pore… It didn’t matter that I didn’t know. I lost him, I knew I’d never get him back, but I swore to myself that was it… I’d never kill another innocent. Not to earn his forgiveness… I knew I’d never get that, not to atone or gain redemption… but so that I could forgive myself.”

 

Xander couldn’t believe that he was actually feeling sorry for the vampire that had been a ruthless killer, his eyes looked so dark as he was lost in the memory… so sad. “So you made a promise to yourself.” Xander understood that part. “What made you break it?”

 

Angel’s eyes glittered a moment. “Buffy, stupid girl. I should have realised. We had sex, there was no moment of perfect happiness, no ‘oops you made me lose my soul because you were so wonderful’. In fact it was awful. I know virgins aren’t renowned for sexual prowess, but really Harris, you should be grateful you never got to indulge your fantasies. It was like fucking … well, a corpse would have probably been more responsive.”

 

A truly Angelus like remark and it caused Xander to erupt with a bark of laughter. “Instead of telling her she was a crap lay and dumping her, breaking her heart and scarring her for life… you pretended to turn evil.” He managed to get out between the laughing. “Oh my god, that’s hilarious. Almost as hilarious as you thinking I was fantasising about her.”

 

Angel raised eyebrows, that adorable confused puppy look on his face once again. “It seemed like a good idea at the time… then I realised I quite enjoyed people being scared of me again, it was invigorating. I talked a good talk… never hurt any of you irreparably though, did I?”

 

“Except Miss Calender.”

 

Angel held up a thoughtful finger, “She… figured out the curse was rubbish. Didn’t quite get as far as you did, but she had to go. Besides, she wasn’t really one of you.”

 

“Giles.” Xander pointed out.

 

“Deserved the wake up call he got. Supposed to be a watcher and he misses the most important things, right under his nose.”

 

“You nearly opened the hellmouth.” Xander was still relaxed in his chair, his tone matter of fact and totally unaffected.

 

Angel shook his head, “Didn’t realise Buffy was so stupid… well, I did but not *that* stupid. All it needed was my blood to close it, not a full on ‘send him to hell’ moment.” He snorted.

 

“That’s why you weren’t bitter about it having happened?” The younger man was thoughtful. “You dress much better when you’re being evil.”

 

It was Angel’s turn to laugh again. When he stopped he had a smile on his face. Not a scary Angelus sneer, not a reserved shy ‘dare I’ Angel smile, but a genuine smile. Xander felt suddenly nervous as his insides jumped and squirmed, this was the moment, the reason why he’d really come. He took a deep breath and gathered his fading courage.

 

“When you were ‘Angelus’, were you talking crap or just more honest then usual?” Xander was surprised that his voice didn’t belie him, he was sure the vampire would be able to sense his sudden loss of calm but it would be very different to hear it himself.

 

A contemplative look crossed Angel’s face as he slouched back in his chair, his eyes had dropped to study the desktop before he looked up and captured Xander’s gaze, pinning him with his eyes. “Meant every word I said.” There was a wicked sparkle in deep soulful eyes as the human swallowed noticeably in response.

“Then why did you never act on it?” He laid the bait.

 

That slow smile spread over Angel’s face again, “I’m a vampire Xander, I have a long time to act. Patience is a virtue and all that stuff.”

 

Swinging his boots down off the desk the brunette stood up in front of the desk and leaned slightly across, “Well I’m not… and I don’t have that kind of time…”

 

“Is that a challenge, boy?” The Irish brogue slipped into Angel’s amused voice.

 

A small smirk played on Xander’s lips. “Nope, its just a statement of fact.”

 

Angel was eyeing him speculatively when the door burst open. Both men turned to see who was intruding on their moment. Illyria stood in the doorway, the year had done nothing for her social graces even though she was doing better there was still a lot of work to do. Xander looked her over, his calm composure evaporated. He’d heard about her from Spike, but of course that did little to prepare him for what he saw. The leather clad goddess with blue streaked hair, eerie blue eyes and frosty blue tinted lips, her hands on her hips looking at Angel with an assessing gaze.

 

“You sent me to the wrong place.” She stated. Her eyes flickered to Xander, “And who is this… human.”

 

Angel sighed despairingly. “The address was good, Illyria. We’re kind of in the middle of something.”

 

The old one took a menacing step forward and the human was quick to intercept. Holding out his hand to her and smiling brightly, “Xander Harris. Spike told me about you.”

 

Illyria’s gaze focused on the young man, she remembered the human greeting she had been taught and shook his hand somewhat jerkily. “You are a friend of Spike’s?” She studied him in her own unique and unashamed way.

 

Xander nodded. “Yeh.”

 

Appeased by this information, she gave a single accepting nod. “Welcome, Xander Harris, friend of Spike.” Then her eyes shifted back to Angel. “There were no vampires where you sent me.”

 

Angel rustled through some papers on the desk. “The information looks sound, maybe they cleared out before you got there.”

 

She didn’t look impressed.

 

“Why don’t you try the lower east side, there’s been a lot of activity down there lately, I’m sure you’ll be able to find something to kill.”

 

Illyria looked at him. Her gaze like steel, unyielding and calculating. Then she nodded and left.

 

Angel shook his head once she was well and truly gone. “You wouldn’t believe that that was an improvement.” He chuckled darkly then turned his attention back to matters at hand.

 

Xander looked back at him, having recomposed himself. “Nice outfit though.” He leered.

 

That was all it took, Angel was around the desk and in his face in a nanosecond display of vampiric speed. He leaned his face close leaving only millimetres between his face and Xander’s neck. He breathed deeply to smell the human boy; a low growl rumbled through his chest before his tongue flicked out and swiped over the warm flesh.

 

“Mine.” He declared.

 

Xander hardened at the declaration; it was what he’d wanted to hear for so long. When Angelus had said all those lewd and kinky words to him he had been sure that his feelings were reciprocated, but no move was ever made to claim him.

 

“Then show me. Prove it…” Xander’s voice was little more than a whisper.

 

Angel stepped back from him a smile on his still human face and flecks of yellow in his dark brown eyes.

 

“You sure you want this, boy? To belong to me?” Angel’s voice was low and seductive, promising so much with just those few words. “Can you handle it?”

 

Xander swallowed hard. “Yes.”

 

The vampire nodded once and reached out a hand, pressing it against the mortal’s chest over his heart. He could feel it beating under his fingers. His eyes locked with liquid chocolate ones, and he studied them silently a moment.

 

“There’s no going back, no walking away. If I make you mine that’s it… forever mine. Mine to do with as I please. Oh, I’ll be good to you… show you affection, give you love… I do love you Xander. I wouldn’t consider claiming you if I didn’t. I’ll keep you safe and happy. But there’ll be pain as well… you’ll be my pet… a treasured pet, but a pet none the less.”

 

The words filtered into Xander’s ears and he shivered. He had known when he came there that what he was getting into would be a lifelong commitment. He hadn’t considered that Angel actually loved him, but it made sense. He wasn’t sure he loved him back… not yet… but he was sure he would. He nodded. He wanted to belong to this beautiful, intense, strong and so dangerous man. He knew he would be safe with him and that there would be times that he would be afraid but never hurt beyond repair.

 

“I want this.” Xander affirmed. “Please, Angel?”

 

Angel’s smile grew, honest and happy, he leaned in and kissed Xander’s lips gently. Soft lips with a tender touch, moving so slowly and teasingly against the others, silently promising the things to come. He pulled back and tore a groan of need from the mortal’s lips. Dazed chocolate brown eyes fluttered open and he looked up at Angel through lowered lashes; a sultry look that was rewarded with a needy growl from the vampire.

 

“Come with me.” Angel commanded, not waiting to see the response. He led Xander towards the lift.

 

Xander didn’t know where he was being taken but he figured he would find out soon enough. The elevator took them upwards; they stepped out and walked along the corridor. Stopping when they reached a door that Angel was pushing open. Looking round the room the ex-slayerette figured that it was the vampire’s personal suite. It wasn’t fancy but it was comfortable looking. There was a large bed, bigger than a king and a small living room with comfortable chairs. Through an arch was a small kitchen. Xander was still taking in the blood red satin sheets and window drapes when he heard Angel’s voice cut through his wandering thoughts.

 

“Strip.”

 

The human’s body was already responding on automatic before his brain registered the instruction. He was unbuttoning his shirt, sliding it from his torso before he had chance to feel nervous or self-conscious. He folded the shirt and placed it on a nearby chair. He was aware of dark eyes watching him closely and it both aroused and unnerved him. He crouched and unfastened his boots flipping them off, before standing to unfasten his jeans. He felt a blush rise on his cheeks as he unbuttoned and licked suddenly dry lips. He took a deep breath and pushed them all the way down in one smooth motion, stepping out of them and picking them up at once, before straightening up as he folded them and added them to the shirt. Xander might have been anxious but his cock wasn’t, it stood proudly out from his body, long, thick and hard and nestled in a tangle of dark curls.

 

With braveness he didn’t feel he forced himself to lift his head and meet Angel’s eyes; eyes that were golden and focused on his waving erection. He swallowed and resisted the urge to make a wise crack. He was naked in Angel’s room… with Angel. His brain was having just a little difficulty dealing with the information and he suddenly felt 16 all over again.

 

Angel was impressed with what he saw, he could tell that the boy was worried about his body not being up to par, but he really had nothing to worry about. The years had filled out his body nicely, strong muscles hung on his body with more than subtle definition, the boy had a smooth chest and a dark trail of hair from his belly button down to his bush. A dark smile crossed the vampire’s face.

 

“Nice. Very nice.” His smooth voice said appreciatively, as he circled the boy.

 

Angel came to a stop in front of boy and placed his hand on one pec, he ran the hand across the strong chest, down his torso and tangled his fingers into the coarse hair. Xander fought to suppress his moan but all that achieved was turning it into a whimper.

 

“Going to have to shave you though, pet.” Fingers tugged teasingly at those hairs and Xander’s eyes widened in surprise.

 

Despite his wanting to argue the point, the dark haired mortal’s cock bobbed and started to arch up, obviously, *it* liked the idea. He looked into golden eyes and nodded. “As you wish.”

 

The acquiescence pleased Angel and he smiled again. Turning away the vampire went to the wall and pushed, a hidden door opened and he beckoned to Xander to follow. A stunned and very naked human followed him through the door and blinked at what met his eyes. The walls were painted a crisp white and would have looked horribly clinical if it wasn’t for the occasional murals that were painted on them of various sex acts. Then there was the furniture, to all intents the room was an S & M temple. He stepped further inside and Angel allowed him his moment of awe while he shut the door and began moving around.

 

Xander kept taking a step every so often until he was in the middle of the room. He turned slowly doing a 360o examination of the room. Some of the things that were in there he knew what they were for but others he’d never seen before. He didn’t like to feel totally naïve, after the things that ‘Angelus’ had said to him had sparked feelings in him he had investigated, he’d often frequented clubs that catered to his interest and sometimes he’d even ventured to play a little. He understood most of the things there were to understand about the lifestyle but there were things here that made him want to whimper and hide in a corner. He hoped he wouldn’t be a disappointment to Angel. He looked at the man and found he was smiling at him reassuringly.

 

“I’m not going to throw you in at the deep end without teaching you how to swim first Xan. Just relax, I’ve got you, ok?” As he spoke softly, the vampire had moved to where he was stood and had wrapped his arms around the boy’s waist.

 

Xander responded by wrapping his own arms around Angel and resting his cheek against the clothed shoulder. At that moment what he needed most in the world was that hug and Angel gave it to him without hesitation, whispering soothing words and rubbing his back in reassurance. It reminded Xander that this was about love as much as it was about lust and domination. Angel actually cared about him. He pulled back slightly and looked into the now dark brown eyes; they were warm in a way he’d never noticed before and he gave a shaky smile.

 

“I trust you, Angel.” And he realised the truth in his words, despite all his bravado of the past, all the utterances of distrust, he really did trust the vampire now he finally knew the truth.

 

Angel nodded and stroked his cheek, “You’re still scared though, and that’s understandable, but I can tell how much you want this. I’m going to go easy on you today. There’s nothing to be afraid of, pet. I’ll know when you need to stop. I just need to make you mine.”

 

Xander was warmed by the gentleness of Angel’s tone, he’d never heard him speak to anyone like that before and he was more certain than ever that this was meant to be. He nodded, and that was all Angel needed to break the spell that was binding them in that tender moment.

 

He slipped easily into his commanding tone, “up on the table, boy.”

 

He waited while Xander lay down then cuffed his wrists to the sides of the padded table. It would have been like a doctor’s table if not for that little detail. Angel leaned over and kissed his boy softly, swiping his tongue lightly over plump lips and the reciprocating mouth blossomed open to offer entry. Angel’s tongue found its way inside to explore the wet heat, mapping every inch, learning the taste and feel of the other’s mouth. The kiss was slow and searching, probing deep and insistently but unhurried. The vampire slipped a silk blindfold over the human’s eyes as he kissed him.

 

Although he’d felt the cool fabric slip over his eyes, when the lips left his Xander still tried to open his eyes. Blackness met him though so he closed them again. Angel could smell the slight spike in fear in his pet’s pheromones but he could tell it was nothing to worry about as it eased and the human’s heart beat returned to an almost normal rhythm.

 

The vampire opened a cupboard and pulled out a box containing hair clippers. When he switched them on the buzzing noise caused Xander to jump visibly in his bonds. Angel rested a hand on the boy’s chest and lightly caressed it. Muttering reassurances and telling him that he had to hold still.

 

Xander felt the tugging and cutting of his pubic hair and held more still than he ever had in his life, it was quite an achievement considering he was usually bordering on hyperactive. The buzzing seemed to go on for ages and he could feel Angel’s hand moving his erection wherever he needed for better access. Occasionally, one of his legs would be moved and he knew without being told that he should hold it there until it was moved back.

 

The clippers were eventually turned off and Angel’s hand ran over the cropped hair. Lowering both Xander’s legs to the table he leaned over and kissed him again and soft lips parted automatically for his tongue to gain entry. Then the lips were gone again.

 

“Stay.”

 

The soft command was unnecessary, cuffed as he was, but Xander understood it meant more than stay put, it meant stay still. He heard Angel moving around as he gathered shaving equipment, he felt nervous again, the clippers were one thing but something so sharp down there was a scary prospect.

 

When Angel returned to his side he stroked his chest reassuringly, again. He could smell the spike in fear and the rise in heart rate. He knew Xander trusted him, but there was trust and there was “trust”.

 

“It’s even more important that you keep still now, pet. Just try to relax”

 

He wasn’t sure how he managed not to laugh at that, how on earth could he relax when there was something sharp so near to his important parts. He reminded himself though that of anyone he could relax and let do something like that it had to be Angel. The man was so solid and dependable; he knew that he would be careful. He took a deep breath and nodded.

 

With one hand resting on Xander’s abdomen the cool weight of it was calming, the other hand lathered and expertly guided the razor, occasionally, the hand would move from his stomach to hold his hard on out of the way. The erection never faded the whole time, he wasn’t sure if he should be embarrassed by his body’s interest in proceedings or not.

 

The rhythm and feel of the razor gliding over his sensitive flesh lulled him into a sleepy state as he just lay there and let Angel do his thing. He was pulled out of his daze by the feeling of being washed and dried. Cool hands rubbed lotion in and Xander moaned in pleasure at the feeling. His genitals had never felt so sensitive.

 

Then he was being kissed again, and as the cold wet tongue explored his hot mouth he felt the blindfold pulled away. He didn’t open his eyes yet though, he was busy enjoying being kissed. He wished he could reach up and touch Angel, run his hands over strong muscles. But his hands remained bound to the table and me groaned into the vampire’s mouth in frustration and need.

 

Eventually, Angel broke off the kiss and smiled down at him as he blinked open his eyes. Xander gave a timid smile back, he had spent a long time knowing that he would end up here with this man at some point, but now he was, all his insecurities had come scurrying back. He had little doubt about his need to belong to the vampire, he just was afraid he would disappoint or not live up to the older man’s high expectations.

 

The dark haired vampire could smell the uncertainty that curled around his boy. He would have to take that away. He leaned down and pressed a tender kiss to Xander’s forehead, his hand caressing over the tanned torso.

 

“You’re doing really great, pet.” He whispered proudly. “I should confess to you though, that lotion I put on was magically formulated to soothe, heal and prevent hair regrowth. I won’t be needing to shave you again.”

 

Xander swallowed hard at the thought he was now going to be permanently devoid of pubic hair at his groin. His cock twitched again at the symbolism, he was well on his way to being completely owned now. He nodded his understanding as lazy hands continued to caress his chest. Angel leaned down again and this time licked at his pet’s jaw, instinctively Xander moaned and rolled his head to the side to expose his neck. The vampire grinned as he swiped his tongue over the sensitive flesh and nipped with blunt human teeth while fingers found a nipple and pinched. The attention was rewarded with a drawn out moan of pleasure and need.

 

Angel had unfastened the cuffs and was helping Xander off the table before the latter had chance to respond verbally. A cool hand wrapped around his erection and he was led by it back into the bedroom.

 

“First times should be special.” Angel explained, succinctly.

 

The door to the playroom was shut leaving them standing in Angel’s average suite. The tall vampire gathered his human into his arms and kissed him deeply, his tongue pushing in and probing the warm heat once more as he slowly manoeuvred his boy towards the bed. Xander felt himself being eased back onto the softness and his hands tightened around the strong body, urging Angel to join him. The older man had no intention of relinquishing his hold and gladly followed him down.

 

Lips met with a bruising ferocity and strong hands caressed along naked, golden sides; touching, testing, and kneading. Xander arched up into the touch, needy for more, gasping and moaning into the demanding mouth. With a flash display of preternatural speed, Angel removed his clothing and was pressing cool silky skin against Xander’s warm body before there was time for the younger man to protest the loss of contact.

 

Cool lips skimmed over Xander’s neck, nuzzling at the pulse point a moment before moving on down to seek out a tempting nipple. He moaned and arched as the lips found the target and sealed over a tender nub, sucking it into cool wetness and lathing it with a strong insistent tongue, then human teeth were biting gently at it. The brunette bucked and groaned, his grasp tightening around Angel’s naked torso. Carnal instincts leading him, the former Sunnydaler pulled his legs up so his knees were bent either side of the vampire and the dark haired man was cradled between them.

 

A deep rumbling noise was coming from the man on top of him as he switched his attention to the previously neglected nipple, repeating the same maddening actions.

 

“Please…” He gasped, as blunt teeth scraped the tender nub again.

 

Angel looked up at him, his pupils so dilated with lust there was only the thinnest band of golden iris surrounding them. Xander gasped again under the scrutiny of that gaze and thrust up with his hips, invitingly.

 

“Want you… need you… please?” His voice was desperate and thick, barely recognisable to himself. Xander watched as the vampire skimmed cool lips down warm flesh in tiny burning kisses that melted into the flesh and branded him deep, deep down where it mattered most.

 

A long, cool tongue snaked out and circled the tempting navel, dipping occasionally into the crevice and flickering teasingly. Angel held himself steady over his boy as he teased and tormented him with pleasure given at his own pace. It was a battle to keep back his full game face; there was a right time for giving up control to it and right now wasn’t it. He slowly moved lower, drawing in an unneeded breath he blew a long stream of cool air over the heated flesh of Xander’s erection. His boy groaned and the hard flesh twitched and pulsed leaking clear pre-cum. His tongue continued its tease, moving to the base of the underside of that beautiful cock he ran it slowly all the way up to the tip to collect the sticky offering, lapping at the tip a few times to collect it all and causing more to ooze out in response. He grinned in satisfaction at the noises of pleasure that were coming from the human beneath him.

 

Strong hands grasped his boy’s ankles and pushed his knees up to his chest, while his tongue continued its leisurely torture; down over smooth balls and stopping when it reached the tiny wrinkled pucker. He tickled at his boy’s entrance. Xander cried out and gave a full-bodied shudder. A truly Angelus smile on his face, Angel stiffened the oral muscle and pushed it inside that fluttering hole, dipping in over and over, mimicking what he was going to do with his cock really soon.

 

Blindly, Angel retrieved lube from the nightstand and slicked up his fingers and cock. The tube was tossed aside and he moved his mouth back to lap at the rapidly tightening balls as he pressed a slippery digit easily inside the young man. Xander had been squirming in pleasure, but stilled instantly when he felt that cool, thick finger invade his ass. He moaned happily, it felt so damn good and it had been too long since he’d had anything up there. He’d never been fucked properly before but he’d been finger fucked and he’d played with plugs and stuff. Angel was going to be his first proper fuck. That thought made his dick pulse and threatened to tip him over the edge.

 

The sounds of increased heart rate and breathing clued Angel in to Xander’s impending release and his free hand gripped the base of his boy’s cock firmly until he felt him relax back from it slightly. He quickly replaced his one finger with a two… then rapidly added a third as he loosened and lubed the no longer quite so tiny hole.

 

Pulling his fingers out, Angel moved up and over the writhing human. He leaned down and kissed him deeply as he pressed the head of his thick, uncut cock against Xander’s entrance.

 

“Deep breath.” He told his boy, and as he obeyed Angel pushed the first few inches inside.

 

The deep intake of breath quickly turned to a cry of pleasure-pain and Xander locked his arms desperately around his new lover. Moans fell continuously from his lips, interspersed with pleading and cursing as he waited for Angel to push all the way in. Using all his considerable control, the vampire held himself on his hands, not even half way inside. Xander knew better than to try and thrust up to take it before Angel was ready to give him it. Finally, giving in to his boy’s need, the dark haired man slammed himself home. Xander cried out loudly, feeling like he was being split wide open.

 

“Oh god oh god oh god” The human muttered over and over like a litany.

 

Angel smirked, drew his hips slowly back and then slammed in again. He kept that tantalizing pace going for ages, that unhurried retreat followed by that rapid driven hard thrust in. Xander was seeing stars; he had never imagined it could feel like this. His nails raked over Angel’s back desperately, hips lifted up to meet each measured thrust in perfect harmony of the slow fucking motion that his vampire lover was bent on killing him with.

 

The incoherent words and moans suddenly formed into an intelligent sentence, “Please, Master… please?”

 

It was as if someone had flicked a switch on Angel with that passionate and honest, acquiescent plea. The torment disappeared as hips pistoned rapidly in and out, harder, deeper, driving into Xander’s core every time and causing him to grunt and cry out. He was panting heavily and the air felt like it burned his lungs. Shudders racking his body he bucked and writhed.

 

“Cum for me, my boy.” Angel spoke breathily into his ear.

 

Tears in his eyes as he arched, his body tensing, Xander cried out as his orgasm slammed into him at the same time he felt the flesh at his neck pierced and sucked on. He continued to cum and cry out as he felt the draw and then the man inside him jerked and filled him with his cold, searing spunk.

 

He felt the fangs leaving his flesh and then a gentle tongue was delicately lapping at the area, the sting receded and Xander could both hear and feel the purr from the vampire hovering over him.

 

In one smooth move, Angel rolled over onto his back and pulled Xander with him, still with his cock seated in the human’s ass. He held the sweating, panting boy to him and kissed the top of his head. The vampire continued the contented purr and let his hands stroke over the heated flesh. The combination of the tender caresses and purring soothed Xander and he fell into an easy slumber with his head resting on his new owner’s chest.

 

“Mine.” Angel declared possessively, as he held Xander against him.

 

 

 

Chapter 2

 

Xander had the most amazing dreams; Angel was doing unimaginable things to him. He moaned with pleasure in his sleep. The vampire’s hands and mouth were all over the human, his cock was, oh dear god, his cock was thrusting into him. The young man’s eyes snapped open, suddenly very awake, at the realisation that the sensation was very real. He groaned out loud, and he felt a cool stream of air blown against his earlobe.

 

“Morning, my boy.” Angel whispered lustily into his ear, even as his hips continued to drive his hard cock in over and over.

 

Xander was hard, painfully hard, and leaking, his cock trapped underneath him between his belly and the bed where he was laying face down. His hips undulated up to meet the thrusting rhythm, lazily at first then with more need. He moaned. It had to be the best wake up he’d ever had and he wondered if it would always be like it.

 

“Mornin’.” He managed to groan out.

 

Angel chuckled and gripped his hips, pulling him upwards, until he was holding himself up on his hands and knees.

 

“That’s it pet, work those hips, fuck yourself with my cock… take it all boy.” Angel growled as he pounded into that sexy ass and it thrust back eagerly against him.

 

Strong hands gripped his hips painfully hard and he knew they’d be leaving bruises, but that only added to the arousal coursing through him. Xander pushed back over and over, feeling the hard pounding thrust all the way through his body.

 

“Master, please…” He gasped out.

 

Angel fucked him harder and deeper, but his pace slowed to allow greater strength behind each thrust. He leaned down and kissed along the strong back and then lightly grazed sharp fangs over the skin, leaving twin red lines that hadn’t quite broken the skin. Xander bucked and cried out, his back arching as his head was thrown back. A steady stream of incoherent words was falling from his mouth and Angel could tell he was close. He reached under the boy and gripped the leaking hard flesh near the base tightly.

 

“Oh God, Master… please… let me cum, please Master… I’ll do anything… anything Master, let your boy cum…” Xander’s babble formed into distinguishable pleas.

 

Angel grinned in his full game face, he had his boy right where he wanted him. Already calling him Master, already willing to do anything for release. He had been slowly exploring and lazily thrusting into the boy’s body for quite sometime before Xander had woke up. He was pleased and disappointed at the same time. Part of him had hoped to get him to cum in his sleep, but he hadn’t been able to hold back his thrusts, so it was all good in the long run.

 

The vampire slammed in hard, over and over, never letting go of his firm grip on that human cock, preventing its release. The night before had been about bonding, reeling the boy in and showing him how good it would be to belong to him, claiming him. This morning, they were going to start his training. The first and cruellest lesson of all… Xander’s pleasure belonged to Angel now, if he wanted him sexually frustrated for a month, that was how it would be. He would use him at will, but that didn’t guarantee that he would always grant his boy release.

 

Xander was making pitiful mewling noises and whimpering with frustrated need. Angel drove into him one last time and shot his cool seed deep inside, sinking his fangs into that soft curve of his neck as he came. The release combined with the taste of pure Xan was heady and he groaned happily as his hips slowly stilled. He licked the wound clean until it started to seal, hand still holding onto his boy to prevent an accident.

 

“Mine.” He growled into his boy’s ear.

 

The human was beside himself with need, Angel shooting inside him and biting him at the same time was unbelievably intoxicating and he wanted nothing else but to cum, it was the focus of his world. But for some reason that hand was still stopping him and he felt like crying with desperation.

 

“Master, please…” His voice hitched in an almost sob.

 

“Hush pet, hush.” Angel forced his features back to human and nuzzled the warm neck and lapped at his boy’s earlobe. He pulled his cock out amid a backwash of cum and a groan of protest from underneath.

 

His hand still around his boy’s erection, he moved off to the side and sat on the bed looking down at the straining, sweating body. Xander was breathing ragged and hard. His eyes were closed tight and tears of frustration tracked down his cheeks. The verbal diarrhoea had ceased and he was chewing on his bottom lip. Angel thought the boy had never looked more perfect and he committed the image to memory so he could sketch it later.

 

“You’re mine now, Xan. This belongs to me.” He squeezed the hard cock even tighter and received a groan for his effort. He smirked. “You’re not to cum unless I give you permission. You aren’t to touch it or play with it unless I give you permission. You understand? I own you and I own your pleasure.”

 

Xander listened to the dark voice that he hadn’t heard from Angel since the ‘Angelus’ incident, and it was confirmation that he’d been right all along, not that he needed it.

 

He nodded. “Yes Master, I understand.” His voice quivered with his arousal. The words and grip on his cock were doing nothing to alleviate the pressure in his balls.

 

“We’re starting your training today, this is the first lesson. I can keep you like this as long as I want; desperate and needy, until you feel like your balls will drop off they ache that much. I want you hard for me all the time, boy. I want you ready to take me in your ass or mouth whenever I want it. And you will, in private or in public it won’t matter, if I tell you to drop your pants and bend over in the middle of the supermarket… you’ll do it.” The torturous words were spoken low and honeyed.

 

Xander thought he might die from his arousal there and then. He wanted this so much, to belong to Angel, to be his toy and answer to his every whim. He shuddered at the thought of being fucked in public. He looked sideways at his Master and saw the knowing smirk on the handsome man’s face.

 

“You’re so beautiful Xan, you should see how you look to me right now, absolutely perfect in everyway, from your tear stained face to the little trickle of my cum that’s working its way down your spread inner thighs. Perfection, gonna make you my little whore, you’ll want me inside you all the time.”

 

He had been about to protest that he wasn’t beautiful, that he was ugly, but he knew by looking in those eyes and by the rest of his Master’s words that it was not his place to disagree with the man. Not any more, this man owned him now, and as such his word was gospel. His breathing had returned to normal and the hand slowly released his erection, it was almost as painful feeling the hand removed as it had been having it there in the first place.

 

“Don’t move, boy.” The firm tone was a warning as well as an instruction.

 

Xander remained exactly were he was, his eyes studying the covers under him. He could hear Angel moving around the room but didn’t dare look. When he heard him return the vampire was stood at the foot of the bed. He felt the mattress dip as his Master moved up behind him. A cool wet tongue licked up the inside of his thigh and made him shiver as it collected the trail of leaking cum. It stopped when it reached his butt, then he felt something pressed against his slightly sore feeling pucker. It was pushed insistently in, spreading him wider and wider as it flared outwards, his ass burned and ached, until it reached the widest point and popped through the ring of muscle to settle inside. He gasped and moaned at the size of the plug that was inside him.

 

“This stays in unless I remove it or give you permission too.” Angel tapped it for emphasis.

 

“Yes, Master.” Xander moaned, he was sure the pressure would be enough to keep him permanently hard.

 

“If you need the bathroom or it causes severe discomfort, you let me know.” The vampire’s voice had softened then and he stroked a gentle hand over his boy’s ass.

 

He nodded his understanding, “I will, Master.”

 

“Kneel back.” Angel urged Xander to kneel back on his heels, and he moved himself around in front of his boy. “When we’re in these rooms you’ll be naked as you are now. When you’re in the rest of the hotel, you’ll were these.” He handed him what looked like black silk pyjamas. “If you’re going out you need my permission and I’ll choose what you’ll wear.”

 

Xander’s cock pulsed and throbbed. He hadn’t known that Angel would have control over everything, but it turned him on more than anything that he was going to. He nodded, looking at his Master with dilated pupils. Angel reached up a hand and caressed his cheek tenderly.

 

“I just want to keep you tied to the bed and fuck you senseless.” He said, conversationally.

 

Xander groaned, which caused Angel to chuckle darkly.

 

“Get dressed, pet, I have work to do and I want to show you round before I get to it.” Angel kissed him gently on the forehead and slipped off the bed to disappear into the en suite.

 

Xander eased himself off the bed rather gingerly; the butt plug rubbed and pressed on his insides in a not uncomfortable way and he moaned. First he pulled on the silk pants, noticing how silky soft it was against his freshly depilated genitals. He fastened the tie at the front and looked down at the way his cock tented the fabric rather obscenely. He laughed to himself at the image he must present. Then he pulled on the mandarin style silk shirt. If not pyjamas, it was a meditation suit or something. He liked the way the fabric slipped under his fingers and he quickly buttoned the front of it.

 

He’d expected the outfit to drown him, as it was Angel’s, but it fit perfectly, almost like it had been bought just for him. That thought struck him and he sat down on the edge of the bed slightly dazed. This had the unfortunate consequence of pressing the plug harder into his ass and he moaned feeling his cock leak precome. Great, not only was he going to be walking around with a tent in his pants, but also a wet spot.

 

Angel had showered, trying to calm his need to take his boy again, but it hadn’t worked, he’d just found himself playing over everything that had happened and how lucky he was to have his new pet. He finally emerged from the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist.

 

Xander looked up at him with a slightly ‘lost puppy’ kind of look and Angel wondered what had been going through the boy’s head while he was in the shower. He didn’t hesitate to go to his boy and crouched in front of him, his thumb lightly caressing a cheek.

 

“What’s the matter, pet?”

 

Chocolate brown eyes dropped to his lap where his hands laid entwined and a blush crept up his cheeks. The hand that had been stroking his cheek lifted his chin.

 

“Talk to me.” He prompted softly, he wondered if Xander was having second thoughts, doubting that he would be able to give himself over so completely to the vampire’s control.

 

“I’m going to embarrass myself in these.” He finally mumbled, “My erection sticks out a mile, I look like a pervert.”

 

Angel had to force back the laugh that threatened to bubble up in relief. He smiled softly and ruffled Xander’s hair. “Stand up, let me take a look.”

 

It didn’t matter if Angel saw him like this, he’d already seen him naked and writhing, but the thought of the man’s work colleagues seeing him like it was humiliating. He stood up without hesitation and felt brown eyes studying him from various angles.

 

“We can strap it down.” Angel finally offered, a wicked glint in his eyes.

 

“Strap it down?” Xander’s brow creased, certain he should be worried by that look.

 

His Master didn’t answer verbally, he left the room through the hidden door they’d gone through the night before. When he returned a few seconds later he was carrying some kind of a leather harness. The human groaned and blinked, swallowing his protest.

 

Angel was looking at him with a raised eyebrow. “Ok?”

 

Xander swallowed, it was that or embarrass himself in public, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. He nodded his compliance and was rewarded with an indulgent smile.

 

“Its not as bad as it looks. I have worse.” Angel grinned and stepped up to him.

 

Nimble hands unfastened the pants and the fluttered to the ground around Xander’s ankles. His cock stuck out between the opening at the bottom of the shirt lewdly. The vampire again had to rein in his desire to just bend the boy over and take him again.

“So fuckable.” He muttered as he started to fasten the leather straps.

 

Xander watched intently, expecting that at some point he would have to put it on or take it off himself. It was essentially a jock strap, but with a difference. The back was the same, leaving his ass and the plug accessibly, but the smooth leather front flapped down and there were leather straps attached to the inside of it to attach around his cock. They weren’t tight, and they wouldn’t keep him hard or stop him from being able to get hard, then the front was brought back up and snap fastened closed at the waistband. Xander looked down at the clean line of his crotch, it wasn’t so bad at all.

 

Angel crouched in front of him and pulled the silk back up his legs, pausing to kiss the leather covered crotch before fastening the pants back in place.

 

“Better?” He asked his boy with a smirk.

 

Xander looked down and smiled, he nodded eagerly, “I feel very naughty like this.”

 

“Just think how I’ll feel, knowing what’s under there?” Angel grinned. He pressed a kiss to his nose and turned away to get dressed himself.

 

He fastened the last button on his burgundy shirt and looked over at his boy, realising he hadn’t moved from where he left him. He looked deep in thought.

 

“Penny for them?” Angel enquired. It had the desired effect and snapped Xander back to the present.

 

His human blushed slightly and gave a shy smile, “Master?” He requested permission to ask something with that single word.

 

“Go ahead, pet, I’m not going to restrict your speech, not yet anyway.” He smirked again.

 

“All this stuff that you have…” He wasn’t sure he could bring himself to ask whom it had been bought for. He looked to where he knew the hidden door was to the playroom and then down at the clothes he was wearing.

 

Angel waited, patiently waiting for his boy to formulate his thoughts.

 

“Did… I mean… who…?” The blush deepened.

 

The vampire took pity on Xander and closed the distance between them, pulling him into an embrace. “I knew you’d come to me one day. Like I said, I have patience but I wanted to be ready when you did. No one else has ever been in that room with me, I promise you, pet.”

 

He knew he’d said the right thing when the grin lit up his boy’s face.

 

“Really?” Chocolate brown eyes were almost puppyish, and the grin was slightly lopsided with delight.

 

“Really.” Angel kissed him softly on the lips. “Been waiting a long time for you, pet.”

 

Xander nuzzled his lips into the vampire’s neck, only stopping to wonder if it was ok once he was already into it. He wasn’t being pulled away or reprimanded, so he assumed it was fine. But then his Master started chuckling, softly. He pulled back to look at him quizzically and with a little bit of a pout.

 

“You need a shave pet.” Angel supplied, and rubbed at the stubble on Xander’s chin that had been tickling his neck.

 

“Oh.” He giggled. “Should I do that now, or when you’ve shown me round? You did say you have work to get to.”

 

Angel nodded, “The shave will wait. You know, I found a disadvantage here.” He said as he felt over the silk covered leather, “I can’t test to see if you’re hard.”

 

“Oh you can be sure I am, Master. I don’t think I’ll ever NOT be hard ever again.” Xander grinned.

 

******

 

The tour didn’t take too long, even though his Master’s hand kept wandering to play with the plug in his butt. Xander was still so hard. They had talked casually as they walked around the old hotel and had addressed the subject of what he should call Angel in public and private. The vampire had told him that Master or Sir was fine in private but in public he should call him Angel, Xander had been surprised that the idea felt a little strange to him.

 

They reached the lobby again and Xander assumed the tour was over, but Angel slipped his hand into his and led him towards an external doorway. He was ecstatic to find the little enclosed garden area, with the shaded areas around the edge. The flowers were pretty and the grass was lush, he could easily imagine spending time out there reading and such.

 

“This is nice… very nice, Master.” He smiled at him.

 

Angel gave his hand a squeeze and smiled indulgently. “Come on, the others will be here soon.”

 

They had not long returned to the lobby, Angel had let go of his hand to pick up some papers from the front desk, when the front door swung open and a man about Xander’s own age stalked in like he owned the place. The guy was dressed in combat pants, dark blue t-shirt and a loose leather jacket. Xan suddenly wished he’d asked about who the other’s were, he’d met Illyria of course and knew that Spike helped out from time to time, but he had no clue who else to expect. The stranger stopped and looked from Angel to Xander then back to Angel, as if silently demanding an explanation.

 

“Chase, Xander Harris, he’s an old friend from Sunnydale, he’s going to be staying here.”

 

The young blond man, that Xander now knew was Chase, was looking him over.

 

“For how long?” Chase asked, his tone almost petulant as he came over to where they were.

 

“Permanently.” Angel’s voice was commanding. It sounded like a challenge… an unstated ‘if you have a problem with that then too bad.’

 

“Is he going to be working with us?” Chase was still looking at Xander like he wasn’t sure if he was scum. The brunette was taking an instant dislike.

 

Xander looked up at his Master with warm chocolate eyes that were pleading for him to put the guy in his place.

 

“Some of the time. He’s excellent at research and has exceptional strategic knowledge, plenty of front line experience too.” Angel’s voice and eyes were full of a pride that Xander had never heard directed at him before.

 

“I am from Sunnydale after all.” Xander grinned.

 

“What the hell’s at Sunnydale?” Chase’s voice was decidedly unimpressed.

 

“Not much anymore. We pretty much flattened it.” The brunette bounced on his toes with barely contained agitation.

 

In that moment Angel recognised all those times he’d been hyperactive for what they actually were. He gave his boy an affectionate look. “It was the hell mouth. Xander was close friends with the Slayer; their little group saved the world from about half a dozen apocalypses. “

 

“Ah come on now, Angel, you helped a couple of times. And lets not forget the time you almost were the…” Mischief shone in Xander’s eyes until he was given a warning glare and he trailed off, still with a slight smirk.

 

The blond was still looking at him like he was something he’d stepped in. The brunette shrugged and decided that was his problem. He hopped up to sit on the desk that Angel was bent over and winced at the strike on the plug.

 

“So, what do you do, Chase?” He asked casually.

 

“Demon hunter.”

 

“Excellent… can never have too many of them.” Even Xander wasn’t sure if he was being sarcastic.

 

“Xan?” A distinctly British voice called from the doorway and the brunette looked up with a grin.

 

“Fangless.” He grinned, leaping off the desk; he was in Spike’s arm faster than anyone would have thought he could move.

 

Even though Spike had technically had his bite back for sometime, Xander never had got out of calling him the silly old nickname; it was an endearment now, like Deadboy had been so much of the time.

 

Chase stood in shock, Spike was hugging this newcomer like an old pal. Spike, who rarely would let anyone close enough to even breathe in his personal space without growling at them or hurling some kind of obscenity. He looked from the odd scene to Angel. Who he found was looking at them with something akin to fondness.

 

“Xan, mate… you sure smell good.” Spike smirked lewdly. He let it be known to the relevant parties that he knew what was going on. “Such a nice sweet smell. Missed ya whelp.”

 

Xander pulled back and grinned. “So good to see ya, Spikey”

 

Angel found himself correcting his initial thoughts upon Xander’s appearance, he’d thought the human had changed but he was the same boy at heart. He grinned as the pair spiralled into good-natured banter.

 

“He lets him get away with that?” Chase asked Angel, confusion etching his features.

 

The dark haired vampire snorted, “Like he could stop him.”

 

Illyria arrived shortly after Spike, she was still complaining about the lack of things to kill from the night before. Both the blond vampire and the brunette human paused in their banter to say hi, before carrying on the witty insults. The bleach blond menace was disgusted to find out his grand-sire hadn’t fed the white knight since he’d got there and led him off to the kitchen for munchies.

 

Spike had got Xander where he wanted him… alone. As the door swung shut behind them he turned on the human with that knowing smirk.

 

“So, ya finally went and did it, did ya?” The British vampire grinned.

 

There was an enthusiastic nod before the babble started to free flow from the ex-scoobie’s lips. “Oh god, Spike, it was awesome. I’m so glad I finally got the nerve to do it. He’s just… damn… I mean you never told me how utterly fantastic it was gonna be. Although, it would have been nice to have some warning about the shaving thing, y’know but hell, it turned out to be really hot. I just don’t know what’s gonna come next. And those eyes, when he looks at me with pride, I never realised what that would do to me.”

 

Spike chuckled softly as he leaned against the counter. “He sure is something else. So glad y’re happy whelp, if any one deserves some of the good stuff its you.”

 

One rapidly inhaled food, while blood was heated and drank by the other. When they eventually wandered back out to the lobby there were three new arrivals. Xander had no idea how any of them had been recruited as part of Angel’s team but they all seemed to know each other and he felt something of the outsider.

 

Spike found a spot on a couch to lounge on, Chase was sitting on one across the other side of the room, Illyria was looking at some weapons and the other three seemed grouped together, near by. Angel was still at the desk but he was on the phone now. The blond vampire patted the seat beside him and beckoned Xander over. The brunette gave a small smile of appreciation and sat down making the effort not to jiggle the plug. It was hard to believe, that as nervous and wigged out as he was feeling with the strangers, he was still hard.

 

Spike casually pointed to the brown haired woman who was around 5’7 with brown hair. “Leah. Sweet as chocolate, with a bite like a great white shark, she’s half Inlitra demon. The guy with the buzz cut in leather is Max, ex special ops, excellent tracker, hand to hand combat. Tufty there is Greg, eager pup… bit like y’self… y’ll probably get on well, he’s a science nut… not human but not demon.”

 

Xander looked curiously at the guy with the brown spikey hair with its bleached clumps, he had an easy grin and relaxed posture. He wondered what Spike meant by not human but not demon, wondered what he was. He looked back at the vampire and recognised the look in his eye.

 

“You want him.” Xander teased with a grin, “He’s a lil brat and you want him.”

 

“Yeah yeah, alright whelp. Think y’r so clever.” Spike rolled his eyes and nudged the chuckling brunette.

 

******

 

Half an hour later, Angel had finished their briefing, he’d introduced Xander very briefly, handed out instructions for what people were up to for the night and sent everyone off to their tasks. Everyone left the hotel except Angel, Greg and Xander.

 

“Hey,” Greg smiled at him.

 

“Hi, Spike tells me you’re research boy?” Xander smiled back. At least there was one of the new people who thought he was worth speaking to.

 

“Ah, yeah. Pretty much the brains of the operation.” He grinned.

 

“Well, I’m low on the brains but I’m great at the research. I’m guessing Angel will be having me help you out with it.”

 

“Cool, company is good, gets pretty lonely hanging out here on my own all the time. So… you survived Sunnydale? That’s pretty rare.”

 

“Yeah, grew up there. You know what they say… an apocalypse a day…”

 

Greg laughed, “Yeah, I’ve heard a few tales from Spike. Some of them I didn’t believe. There was this one about a guy and a preying mantis woman…?”

 

Xander blushed, “Yeah, well… um… I’m a bit of a demon magnet… yeah.”

 

“Oh my god, that was you? Man, that’s like, insane.” Greg was laughing and it was a sound that was infectious.

 

“Xan, can I have a word?” Angel’s head was stuck out through the door to his office, he’d phrased it like a question but Xander knew it wasn’t.

 

“Catch ya soon.” The brunette said as he crossed the small outer office and went into Angel’s private office.

 

The minute the door was shut behind him, the command came. “Drop ‘em.” His Master was back in his chair behind his desk.

 

Xander blushed as he stepped fully into the room and swallowed hard even as his hands fumbled with the ties on his pants. The soft fabric pooled around his ankles and he was suddenly unsure where to put his hands. Angel grinned at the sight of the leather and his boy’s uncertainty combined with his immediate obedience. He slid out of his chair and stalked around the desk, walking round behind the human. He leaned in and took a long deep inhalation of his boy’s arousal, he could smell himself on him and that caused a low possessive rumble from deep in his chest.

 

The plug was pulled out of his ass and he whimpered at the moment of emptiness and discomfort, then he heard the zip and bit back the nervous energy that vibrated through him.

 

“Lean forward, hands on the desk.” The husky, commanding, voice instructed in his ear.

 

Xander did as he was told, leaning forward from where he was, it made his ass stick out and he felt the gentle caress that brushed over it. Then there was his Master’s cock, hard, blunt and thick, pushing at his hole and sliding in. He moaned in pleasure and frustration, he’d been hard for hours and he was going to go insane. Angel didn’t ease up until he was all the way in. He closed his eyes and bit his lip hard to keep from crying out, not wanting to alert the young man out in the lobby of their activities. His Master was fucking him hard, fast and almost brutally, pounding into him like there was no time left in the world, like he had to cum now.

 

Body shaking with the effort of supporting his weight and the force of the thrusts, Xander still found himself thrusting back to meet Angel’s hips. The vampire slammed in hard one last time and muffled his cry against the back of his pet’s shoulder as he filled him with his cum. He gave a few short stabs as if to finalise an unspoken point and pulled out. The plug was quickly reinserted and his bottom lightly slapped. The human was left feeling dazed, his cock hard and pulsing in its confines, almost certainly leaking heavily, and he wondered if he was going to find out if balls really could turn blue from lack of release.

 

“Pull them up.” Angel said softly, but every bit as commanding as the initial instruction to drop them had been.

 

Mind spinning, Xander crouched gingerly and slowly pulled his pants up and fastened the ties again. He was still shaking slightly and Angel turned him slowly round to face him and held him close.

 

“So beautiful, so perfect, so irresistible and all mine.” Angel rumbled into his ear while a hand caressed his back and his lips alternated between nuzzling his neck and nibbling his earlobe.

 

The being cuddled was almost as good as the being fucked, he had to admit though, that if he’d been allowed to find release, there really would have been no competition for which was best. How long was Angel going to keep him like this?

 

“Thank you, Master.” He whispered.

 

Those lips moved to kiss his and Xander met them eagerly, allowing the tongue into his mouth to probe and explore, he rubbed his tongue against the invader and moaned softly in pleasure. The kiss was slow and deliberate, there was no hurry for either of them, and they both lazily explored each other’s mouth. Xander’s hands wrapped around Angel holding him tight while the vampire’s hands tangled in his soft hair. When the kiss finally ended, Xander looked like he’d been well and truly fucked and he felt like he would be very lucky for Greg to be so blind he wouldn’t notice that.

 

Angel played with his hair, ruffling it lightly then settling it so it didn’t look quite so dishevelled. He grinned wickedly and walked back around to his chair.

 

“I thought you could help Greg, you two will probably get on well, he could be a good friend for you to have.”

 

Xander nodded, not entirely dumbly but not totally with it yet. “Uh-huh. He seems nice.” He wasn’t sure, but he thought he could hear the undertone of his Master suggesting it would be ok to tell the “not human but not demon either” the nature of his relationship with Angel.

 

The vampire chuckled at the still semi-glazed look and patted his lap opening his arms. Xander happily slid into them and very carefully sat on his lap. He leaned a head on his shoulder, feeling like he’d run a marathon. “Spike likes him.” He murmured.

 

“I’m aware of that, and Greg likes him, but their both going through the ‘how could he ever want me?’ phase.”

 

“You think Greg could be kinky enough for Spike?” Xander thought aloud, he’d talked with the blond vampire about such things when he knew he was going to finally act on his feelings for Angel. He’d asked him all about what the man liked, hoping to check that the ‘Angelus’ comments had been for real. Spike had been more than helpful, and even supplied little tit bits on the things he’d learned and liked.

 

“Hard to say.” He admitted, “Spike isn’t quite as demanding as I am. He likes the play but he isn’t one to have total control over a person’s life. I think Greg could be open to some of that.”

 

“Mmm, I’ll have to get to know him better, I guess, to be able to judge.” Xander murmured sleepily, almost dozing off.

 

“Hey… no going to sleep.” Angel tickled him lightly under the arms.

 

“Sorry, big bad vampire keeps fucking me senseless.”

 

There was a snort from the man holding him followed by, “You think it’s bad now, wait ‘til I really get going. I’m just warming up.” He kissed him affectionately on the nose then nudged him into getting up off his lap, “Go help Greg, he gets lonely.”

 

“What about you?” Xander pouted.

 

It was a weapon that Angel had never really been exposed to before, the almost pout earlier was nothing on this and for a moment he felt himself flailing. He shook the thoughts clear in his head.

 

“I have to go out for a while.” He said; as if to convince himself, more than his lover.

 

“Will you be gone long?”

 

//Oh god, that pout’s gonna kill me.// “The quicker I go, the sooner I’m back.” He managed to get out, “Probably an hour or so, I’ll take my cell phone,” He scribbled down a number on a piece of paper and tucked it in Xander’s pants pocket. “So you can reach me.”

 

The human smiled shyly and nodded, then offered his lips for a kiss, of which Angel willingly obliged and gave him the sweetest, softest kiss he’d ever experienced… before pulling on his duster and ushering him out the door.

 

“So, what are we researching?” Xander asked Greg as he eased into a chair.

 

 

 

Chapter 3

 

Greg cocked his head to the side and studied Xander a moment, a slow grin split his face as he realised what had just happened in Angel’s office. He was a little off the mark on details but he had the general gist of it. He gave a little nod then pointed at the two books, the manuscript and the laptop that were spread out in front of him in ordered chaos.

 

“Prophecy! Yadda yadda yadda… Chosen One… yadda yadda.” He mumbled in a bored tone as he bent his head over the manuscript once more. “Same old story… been trying to work this thing out for weeks now.”

 

“The Chosen One? It’s about the Slayer? Well I guess technically that’s a bit confusing now since the Slayerettes and everything. Y’know, I didn’t think Buffy would get so pissed about not being so special anymore. She always used to complain about the weight of responsibility on her shoulders,and now she has all the others to share it with… you’d think she’d be happy, but no… not she.” Xander went into babble mode as he leaned over to look at the same manuscript, the plug nudged his prostate and he had to suppress a moan, his voice quivered just a little.

 

Greg was looking at him in stunned silence. He shook his head as if to clear a fog that had settled over it. “Wow, and Angel says I’m bad.”

 

Xander looked up at him, grinned nervously, and then looked back down.

 

The ex-CSI cleared his throat then started to talk, “The Chosen One isn’t the Slayer. It’s a misconception that the Watcher’s council have been working under for a long time; there were missing manuscripts, prophecies etc and some that they just couldn’t interpret properly. You know the Slayer?”

 

“What? Oh yeah… Buffy as oppose to the mini-slayers? Since I was in high school, fought along side her on many an apocalypse. Well, mostly I just went for donuts and provided the comic relief but that’s a fairly important job. How do you know she’s not the Chosen One? I mean Giles was pretty much all about that.”

 

“Well, most importantly, I think it’s the knowledge that the Chosen One is male.”

 

“But Slayers are fema…” Xander started to protest and realised that was the point. “Ah.”

 

Greg nodded, “What’s she like? Angel doesn’t really talk about her much, Spike on the other hand, he’s pretty mean about her. And how weird is it that two vamps both dated a vampire slayer anyway?”

 

“She’s… an experience. And yeah, lots of conflict and angst in them tales… not a great deal of actual dating, more… soul loss, apocalypse causing, hell sending, soul returning…ness” Xan mused, as he started to decipher a few of the words on the manuscript.

 

“Huh?” Greg looked puzzled, obviously he hadn’t been treated to the events that had happened in Sunnydale.

 

“When she and Angel did the horizontal mambo, poof went Angel’s soul. Hello Angelus… ooh looky psycho vampire wants to turn the world into hell… of course the only way to shut the damn hellmouth was with blood of the idiot that opened it. Buffy isn’t the sharpest axe in the armoire and took this to mean she had to shove the whole person in. Thus, Angel – who was Angel at that moment because Willow had returned his soul just seconds before and me being the asshole that never told Buffy that she was even trying too – spent 500 years in hell.”

 

“And again I say… huh? The explanation was more confusing than the synopsis.”

 

“I’ll tell you the full story sometime, but…er, not now?” He looked up pleadingly, not wanting to admit what he’d done to Angel… someone he was in love with, to an almost stranger, even if he did like Greg a lot.

 

Greg nodded.

 

“So, this prophecy… I get something about the slayer and the Master … but… well, he’s dead already.” Xander diverted the conversation none too subtly.

 

“Yeah… you can read this? Wow. It’s taken me weeks to get this much translated.” To demonstrate he pushed his laptop around a little so Xander could read it.

 

There were chunks of writing with gaps between that signified parts not yet translated.

 

~~And so the Chosen One will dawn a new time, he will bring the balance towards the light and hold the universe in the palm of his hand.~~

 

“Pretty powerful guy, huh? How do we find out who he is?”

 

“Yeah, that’s why I’m working on it, Angel wants to find out who he is before the bad guys can get their hands on him and either corrupt or kill him. There’s a massive chunk that I can’t translate though, I have, like, odd words. There’s something about the slayer and the Master like you said, but… it doesn’t make much sense to me at the moment.

 

~~The Chosen One will……the………………the one…… new……the slayer…….death…………the hands ……the Master…~~

 

Was what he’d actually managed to decipher so far, and Xander could see how that didn’t make much sense. He sat down and pulled the manuscript in front of him, mumbling that he’d learnt to read this language while at Watcher central, he’d been bored.

 

“Might want to try the Moresonil book for help with the translating.” Xander offered absently as his eyes moved over the ancient text.

 

After several long silent moments, where his lips moved while he sounded out words in his mind but the words went unvoiced, he swallowed hard. The words made sense to him.

 

~~The Chosen One will be born in the form of the one who breathed new life into the slayer following mortal death at the hands of the Master…~~

 

There was more but it pretty much started to affirm that notion.

 

“Um, sorry, not a clue.” He shrugged and pushed the manuscript back towards Greg, “I… should go do some…er…something.” And Xander bolted.

 

//Shit, shit, shit…this is about me… how can that be? I’m the zeppo, the donut boy, how can I be the damn Chosen One?// His brain screamed at him as he ran up the stairs to Angel’s suite.

 

“It can’t be me.” Xander said to the room as he paced, he was alone and talking to himself. “I mean, this Chosen One is powerful, right and I’m not, I’m just the comic relief, no power here except the power to get myself in crappy situations and need rescuing. And it’s not like my hands are even big enough to hold the universe in, not even the world in fact.” Talking turned to babbling as he stopped pacing long enough to stare at his hands.

 

He’d lost track of time since he’d returned to the room. First thing he’d done was strip off his silk outfit. He was in their rooms, which meant he should be naked, but he wasn’t sure if he was allowed to remove the leather jock strap. Then he’d sat on the end of the bed and tried not to hyperventilate. Staring into space hadn’t helped much and as his brain babbled at him, he’d started to pace and let the thoughts run out of his lips in a long, uninterrupted monologue that was for no one else’s benefit, except perhaps a few spiders.

 

******

 

“Hey.” Greg looked up as Angel walked towards him, cleaning off his axe.

 

“Hey, where’s Xan, thought he was going to help you with the research?” Angel raised an eyebrow as he asked.

 

“He did a bit, but… something spooked him and he did a runner. I think he’s upstairs, that’s the direction he went in anyway.”

 

“Spooked? Xander?” The broody vampire frowned at that. Xander had matured a lot and was nowhere near as skittish as he was when he was younger, and he wondered what could have caused that.

 

“Yeah, on the plus side, he did give me a clue where to look for help with translation and I think I have something we can work with.” His face was lit up with excitement and he turned the screen to show Angel the blanks that he’d meticulously filled in.

 

The dark haired vampire read the words, then read them again, for good measure he read them a third time. Well, that explained a lot.

 

“You’re sure about your translation?”

 

“Double checked.” Greg nodded, he looked at the perturbed look on the other man’s face and it caused him to frown. “Does it make sense to you?”

 

“A great deal.” He never embellished on that, simply straightened up, turned and walked away.

 

Greg knew better than to push it, he’d be filled in when the time was right.

 

The calm exterior was deceptive; inside, Angel was a tidal wave of emotions and thoughts. How could this have happened? How could they have missed there being something so special about the boy? Special in his own way as he was, he’d always known that Xander was important to the group back in Sunnydale, that without him they would have fallen apart. He’d watched him, carefully. He’d respected the boy for his honesty, determination and loyalty. He remembered the day in question vividly, when Buffy had drowned and Xander had revived her with the kiss of life. Was that the moment that he became the Chosen One, or was he already that before and it was just an identifying marker? He’d never shown any special power or ability, maybe he just didn’t know he had it. Untapped potential?

 

He slowly made his way up the stairs trying to compose himself. Stopping outside his suite, he listened to the sound of movement, footsteps even, from inside. The second he pushed the door open the movement stopped. Xander turned to look at him and gave him a bright smile.

 

“Angel, Master. I missed you.” He started towards him, but Angel’s hand came up and halted him in his tracks.

 

“Something you want to tell me, pet?” Angel asked as he closed the door and crossed to a chair to sit down.

 

“I… um… no?” Xander said, half hopeful, that since he didn’t really ‘want’ to tell Angel that would get him out of the actual telling.

 

A raised eyebrow from the dark haired vampire, told him that it wasn’t a request and telling wasn’t optional. He crossed quietly to him and automatically went down on his knees by his Master’s feet. He held his posture perfect, back straight, thighs parted slightly, hands behind his back, while he collected his thoughts, his head was lowered slightly and his eyes fixed on Angel’s boots.

 

“Greg translated it, didn’t he?” He asked, quietly.

 

“He did.”

 

“I…” Xander brought his eyes up to look into Angel’s. “I don’t think it can be right. I mean, look at me… I’m nothing special, never done anything amazing. I’m just a regular human that sometimes gets lucky and sometimes screws up.”

 

Angel could smell the fear rolling off his boy, he leaned forward and caressed a smooth cheek; his boy had shaved while he’d been out.

 

“These things are seldom wrong. Unless they’re fabricated of course… but to be honest, there’s little to no chance of that in this instance. Just because you’ve never done anything amazing, doesn’t mean you aren’t capable. And you most definitely are something special, I’ve always thought you were, this…just confirms it.” The vampire smirked a little.

 

Xander couldn’t help himself and he nuzzled his cheek against the palm of that hand that was deceptively soft and tender.

 

“Did…did you tell Greg? I know I have no right to tell you what to do, but I’m not sure I’m ready for everyone knowing this. It’s so huge, beyond huge… this is so past huge its immeasurable.”

 

“Shh.” Angel pulled him easily up and into his lap, holding his human against his chest, hands wandering over naked flesh. “I didn’t tell him, but I can’t keep it from him. He might be able to help work it all out. We’ll work it out together. You’re still mine, I don’t care if the universe is in your hand… you’ll still be mine” He smiled, warmly.

 

Xander leaned his cheek against the vampire’s shoulder and closed his eyes, feeling himself relax under the touch. He couldn’t really put into words how freaked out this prophecy stuff had made him, but he somehow suspected that he didn’t really need too. Strong hands stroked and rubbed at his warm flesh idly as they sat together comfortably. The pad of one thumb ghosted over his nipple and the sensation reverberated through his body, his erection that had receded during his rising panic and anguish started to reassert itself.

 

Angel grinned at the lessening of the fear scent and increase in arousal. He rested one hand firmly over the leather-covered crotch a moment. He felt his own cock responding to the smell of his boy’s arousal and nuzzled at Xander’s neck while his hand blindly unsnapped the front. His fingers sought out warm hairless balls and rolled them gently before tugging experimentally. There was a gasp from the young man in his arms, followed by a deep groan of frustrated pleasure. Fangs extended, he grazed the sharp points over the tender flesh and felt Xan buck in his arms. He pricked the flesh and lapped at the small amount of blood that pooled in the twin wounds, just a taste, just enough.

 

“Suck me, pet.” He murmured into the ear of a lust-hazed Xander.

 

The human was responding on automatic, sliding off the lap and between spread thighs. His hands were on their way up to unzip Angel’s pants before he was even fully aware that he was no longer sat on that comfortable lap. He blinked a few times, chocolate brown eyes so dilated they were mostly black pupils, large and strangely innocent looking, framed as they were by long lashes as the boy looked up at his Master.

 

He allowed a small smile to grace his lips as his hands found Angel’s fly, unbuttoned and unzipped him. He slipped fingers inside and gently teased the erection out the opening. Leaning forward, he took a long slow lick from base to tip before swiping the tip of his tongue sensuously over the slit. His teeth nibbled at the foreskin and he moaned quietly at the first tastes of his Master’s cock. He worked his tongue under the not so loose skin and tormented the half hidden head, rubbing his tongue firmly. Xander’s hand gripped the shaft and pulled backwards, with it the foreskin revealed his target. He lathed it with licks and kisses before taking just the head between his lips and suckling lightly. Another happy moan as Angel’s hands found their way into his hair and tangled tightly in it, anchoring him in place, not that he planned on going anywhere.

 

A rumbling sound from above signalled to Xan that he was doing something right and that his Master was enjoying his ministrations. Slowly, he slid his lips down the shaft, taking a little at a time, pausing to suckle and rub his tongue against the underside. His Master’s cock was so perfectly sculpted, it was better than anything he could imagine. And he wanted to do this right, wanted to show Angel that he was worthy of being his pet. He took in as much as he could without gagging and sucked hard and swallowed around the hard, thick shaft. Then he slowly pulled back, keeping the suction strong as he did. A loud moan of appreciative pleasure sounded from the vampire and it swelled Xander with pride that he was the one to cause it.

 

When he reached the head, he no longer needed to hold the hard flesh to keep the foreskin pulled back, the angry weeping tip was fully exposed. He flickered his tongue in the slit and collected the clear fluid, savouring the taste before swallowing it. Angel’s hips bucked up as he slowly and deliberately liked over the head repeatedly.

 

There was a growl and something that resembled “Enough.” Followed by a tug at his hair, he looked up at his Master and they had matching lust-hazed looks. “So damn hot and sweet, my boy.”

 

Angel pulled Xander onto his lap so that he straddled his thighs. His strong hands massaged and kneaded the muscular globes of his boy’s ass before pulling the plug out with no verbal warning. The human gasped, his eyes fluttered closed, and he had to fight back his arousal from the edge. He knew what was expected of him with the plug gone, but just in case, those big hands gripped his hips and pulled him forward. He felt the enormous erection rubbing up and down his crack, the weeping head leaving a slick trail.

 

He gripped Angel’s bulging biceps and held on, vaguely aware of one hand leaving his hip to guide the cock to his still slick hole. He moaned as he felt the head pop through the opening and he hoped it was going to be like this everyday, this was the third time he’d been fucked in the one day and even though he hadn’t yet been allowed to come he was bizarrely satisfied and a little sore but in a good way.

 

His Master shook his head and forced his demon features away. Leaning forward to kiss Xander gently, then using his tongue to push his way into the hot human mouth, deepening the kiss. The passion mounted and the kiss was so distracting that his pet didn’t even realise that he was fully seated on the erection until their lips separated.

 

Xan groaned in pleasure and squeezed his muscles down. He loved the feel of Angel filling him up. He knew that what had been said to him a few hours earlier was true, he was going to be a whore for his Master’s cock, he would be begging to be fucked all the time and he didn’t care because it felt so damn good and Angel wanted him. Muscles bunched under his hands as the vampire started to lift him slowly off the invading cock, before releasing the hold and letting him slide back down again.

 

After only a few repeats, Xander was more confident and was using his own thighs to raise himself up off the hardness and thrust himself back down on it. Moans of pleasure and need fell continuously from his lips as his hands held on. He seated himself fully then rocked his hips back and forth, it was a different motion and the cock inside him flexed and jerked, pressing off and on against his sweet spot. He felt a bead of sweat trickle down his face and he increased his pace. Panting fiercely as he fought to fill his burning lungs with air.

 

“Oh god… yeah… like that, boy… fuck yourself just like that.” Angel moaned.

 

He lost control of his features and his demon visage was back. His hips worked in time with Xan’s, desperate to carry himself to completion again. He threw his head back and howled, releasing cool cum into his boy’s tight, hot, channel.

 

“Master… please… please… Master?” Xander begged, as he rocked his hips and gasped for air.

 

Angel growled, using his strong grip he stilled the motion and his boy whimpered. Xan leaned in and rested his forehead on the vampire’s pale shoulder, gasping to get his breath back. Those sexy, big hands caressed his back and soothed him as he got to grips with yet another orgasmless sex session. Xander moaned and whimpered in frustration, tears prickled at his eyes from his need, but if he were honest, he would do this all day without release if it meant he got to be in the arms of the man he loved.

 

Xander’s resting turned into nuzzling at the vampire’s neck, licking and teasing the skin with his tongue and then kissing it tenderly, conveying all he felt with his actions. He nipped lightly at the flesh and smiled. The whimpers died away and he sighed as that strange sense of satisfaction swept over him again.

 

He felt like he was being lifted, and he realised through the fogginess that was currently his mind that he was. Instinctively, he wrapped his legs around Angel’s waist, the cock still buried deep inside him, as he was carried across the room and lowered onto the bed. His erection was pulsing and throbbing demandingly, pressed between them; he could feel it leaking as it tried to get itself taken notice of, but it wasn’t his decision anymore and that thought somehow turned him on even more.

 

Curling up together, Angel petted and stroked his boy’s hair, but didn’t pull out of his ass. He could happily stay seated in there all day.

 

“We’ll figure it out, pet, don’t worry.” He soothed and cuddled.

 

Xander felt sleep creeping up on him and before long he was dozing pleasantly.

 

******

 

Downstairs in the lobby, Greg had been hunched over the prophecy, while the others had been sat cleaning weapons and chatting. Angel’s howl of completion echoed all the way through the hotel. Spike smirked & chuckled, and Greg had sent him a knowing look and wink. Illyria looked like she was analysing something.

 

Chase had stood up clutching a heavy sword, “What the hell was that? Sounded like a wounded wild animal.”

 

“Wild animal, possibly… but I’m pretty sure there was no wounding involved.” Greg smirked.

 

Spike started laughing, a dirty kind of laugh that spoke of carnal knowledge. He stalked across to Greg and whispered something in his ear. The “not-human, but not-demon” flushed and giggled quietly.

 

It wasn’t really possible to say which infuriated Chase more but he made to move towards the stairs. He was nowhere near when suddenly Spike was in front of him.

 

“Where d’ya think you’re goin’?” The bleached blond tilted his head slightly, bouncing slightly with a barely contained energy that signalled he was ready for anything.

 

“To investigate, since no one else seems to care that there could be something up there ready to attack us.” Chase replied, accusingly.

 

Spike lifted his scarred eyebrow, “you really need to get a life if you think that sound meant danger, pet.”

 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” The young man’s brow creased, as he tried to look menacing but failed, considering who he was trying to intimidate it was no surprise.

 

“Don’t y’ know the difference between a howl of pain and a howl of pleasure?” The trademark Spike smirk was firmly in place.

 

Greg watched with amused interest, this was what he liked about the blond vampire, he was so playful but in a scary way.

 

“P…pleasure? Meaning…? With who?”

 

If humans could turn green, there was little doubt in Greg’s mind that it was the colour that Chase would now be.

 

The Brit looked pointedly round the room as if to draw attention to who was there and who was not. “Gee, I’m not so sure. Perhaps it’s self-lovin’.” He teased, smirked even more and walked back to Greg.

 

“You’re bad, you know that?”

 

“Oh yeah, I’m the big bad, luv, thought y’ knew that already.” The smirk turned into an affectionate smile.

 

“Yeah,” Greg grinned, “If you say so.”

 

 

 

Chapter 4

 

“Tool up.” Spike called as he came into the lobby. “We’ve got a big nasty over on the east side.”

 

The team were moving, grabbing up weapons and readying themselves. Everyone except Greg and Xander, they stayed where they were, playing a game on the computer. Xan was winning, much to Greg’s annoyance.

 

“Sorry Greggo, gonna have to steal your playmate.” Spike’s voice cut through as he was hauling a stunned Xander to his feet and towards the stairs.

 

“Huh? Me? Why?” The brunette almost stammered.

 

It had been only a day since the discovery of the young man’s destiny, he hadn’t yet found the nerve to tell the others, but Angel had told him that he would have to do it soon. It wasn’t fair on Greg to leave him in the dark when he was putting in the hours on the researching. The others had been out to kill something or other two or three times in that short space of time, and he had started to get used to being left behind with the goofy science geek.

 

They were outside his room with Angel by the time Spike replied. “Because we’ve faced one of these guys before, back in Sunnyhell. Go and get bloody changed.”

 

As the door closed behind him, the human had a brief moment of uncertainty. He couldn’t go and fight in the black silk, but Angel had said he would tell him what to wear if they were going out anywhere. He looked around then headed to the closet, pulling it open and grabbing out a pair of black jeans and a black t-shirt. He thought it was a safe combination.

 

When a fully dressed Xander reached the bottom of the stairs Spike handed him an axe. Xander moved the weight from his left hand to his right and back again. It was an impressive looking weapon and he hoped he wouldn’t hurt himself with it. He nodded his approval at the weapon, while wondering if Angel knew of the situation. He looked towards the office door.

 

“Peaches knows, pet. He’s getting himself ready too.” The bleached blond vampire almost seemed to read his thoughts.

 

Xander nodded. “Okay.”

 

They piled into the SUV with Angel bringing up the rear, he slammed the door shut and the squeal of tyres signalled that they were in a real hurry. Spike normally drove like that though so it wasn’t anything different. Xan grinned as he looked at Chase’s disapproving face. Spike was talking, telling them about the demon and the young cocky blond was trying not to look fazed by the prospect of what they were about to face.

 

“A what demon? Max asked from the back.

 

Spike made that weird throaty sound again and Xander chuckled. “Quit showing off that you can speak the language, Fangless” He called to his friend.

 

There was a loud laugh from the blond menace. “Crghthalx” He said it again, with less of an accent. “Bloody nasty buggers they are. All limbs and eyes.”

 

“And slime.” Xander added, “don’t forget the slime.”

 

“How would you know?” Chase shot at him.

 

“The whelp and me took one of these buggers out back in the day. Ain’t that so, pet?” Spike beamed with pride at the accomplishment.

 

Xan smiled and nodded. “That we did, I swear I was showering off the slime a week later still, that stuff got everywhere.” He shivered at the memory, as he did so it caused him to shift and be reminded of leather pouch and butt plug he was wearing under his jeans. He bit his lip to suppress a moan. ‘Not the most practical in battle wear’ he told himself. Feeling someone watching him he turned his head and raised his eyes meeting Angel’s intense dark gaze. He watched a slow smile spread across the dark vampire’s face and Xan wondered if that should worry him.

 

The Crghthalx demon was living in an old warehouse… an old, huge warehouse. The group of 6 walked in through the small door in the larger loading bay doors; weapons in hand and an air of nervous anticipation surrounding them. Spike and Angel led them and Xander brought up the rear. It was dark inside and Spike broke off to head for the lights, he flicked the switch and the inside of the building was bathed in stark artificial light.

 

There was a loud, high-pitched wail that battered their eardrums and then the demon came lurching from behind some boxes. There were gasps and mutters from those that had never seen one before. Illyria swung her axe happily; finally, something to kill that would be a nice challenge.

 

“You never mentioned the thing about the eyes being ‘on’ the limbs.” Max protested.

 

“Oops! musta slipped my mind.” Spike grinned, mischievously.

 

The demon was easily 8 feet across, it’s body was only 5 feet tall but it had at least a dozen arm like appendages, each one 8 foot long with a pair of eyes and three finger like protrusions, with razor sharp nails on each. It didn’t have feet as such; it sort of slid along like a slug. A giant slug with 24 eyes, 36 razor sharp nails and oozing a smelly yellowish slime!

 

“It’s smaller than the other one.” Xander pointed out.

 

“Smaller?” Asked an incredulous Max.

 

“Probably just a baby.” The brunette continued.

 

Chase just glared while Spike and Xander chuckled at the look on the ex-special ops agent’s face, he’d paled considerably.

 

They went to work, Angel and Spike dodged the flailing limbs easily with their vampiric speed, each of them bringing down their weapons and severing a limb. They were squirted with yellow slime for their efforts and their momentarily triumphant smiles became disgusted grimaces at the stench of the demons ‘blood’.

 

Illyria, not one to be left out during a battle, was next to rush in. She wasn’t as fast as the other two, but she was agile, a limb caught her and cut a gash in her arm. She looked at the blood and then with a look of indignant rage, sliced through a limb…twice… just to be sure.

 

Xander looked at the other two, at their hesitation he began to move forward, he wouldn’t leave the other three to deal with the demon on their own, not with that many limbs still flying around. Someone could get hurt; besides, he knew these things could move faster than they first appeared. He briefly caught sight of the swirling black coat of his Master, as he twisted and jumped and took off another limb. The brunette human almost cheered, but a limb swooped down and he had to duck to avoid getting his face gashed.

 

Xander growled from deep inside, turned and struck out with his axe, it embedded in the limb. He had to duck another, before he could pull it out and bring it down again and finish the job. The demon was down to only 5 limbs, that he could count. He wasn’t paying any attention to anyone else; he was far too busy ducking, twisting and hopping over the remaining limbs. He was covered in slime, and the leather under his pants was rubbing in an annoying way, but it all served to focus his mind in the strangest way he’d ever experienced. He felt like he had to prove himself to Angel, prove himself worthy of belonging to him.

 

With a deep guttural cry, Xander leapt over a dead limb that lay on the floor and took off another, halfway along the length. He looked around and found that Spike was taking off the last limb. There was an ear splitting screech from the creature as the last limb fell to the floor and the body deflated into a pile of yellowish goo.

 

“Well, wasn’t that fun.” Xander grinned, covered almost completely from head to toe in slime.

 

Spike was bouncing on his heels. Angel was looking down at his duster with a scowl. Chase glared at Xander. Max and Illyria seemed only interested in each other.

 

Xander rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand, he felt a tickle creeping up his spine and his skin felt like his skin was crawling. “Anyone else feel…”

 

There was a pulse and flash of static electricity and a portal opened behind Angel. Xander’s eyes went wide.

 

“Look out.” He called as something large and scaly stepped through.

 

Angel didn’t move fast enough as the demon’s arm arched round and sent him flying. Xander yelled out as Spike grabbed him and pulled him down behind some crates. The others dove behind there with them. Not that they would give them much protection, but it left Angel facing whatever the new big bad was.

 

The tickling along Xander’s spine had increased and his stomach was churning with fear for his vampire.

 

“We have to do something. It could kill Angel.” He turned desperate eyes on Spike.

 

The blond’s eyebrows shot up. “Bloody hell.”

 

“What?” Xander frowned, rubbing the back of his neck again but then continuing to rub his head, which was hurting.

 

“Your bloody eyes, they’re glowin’ blue, that’s what.”

 

Xander’s frown increased, a hand lifting towards his face, until a cry of pain from Angel drew his attention. He flew from his hiding place without a second thought.

 

Spike’s hand shot out to grab hold of the whelp, but he was too slow and his hand grasped empty air. Xander was already standing in front of the demon. All the blond menace could think was that Peaches would dust him for letting something happen to his boy. He was about to launch himself out after the human when he was stopped in his tracks by the sight that they now made.

 

As soon as Xander approached the ‘thing’ that had come through the portal, it dropped its grip on Angel and turned to face him.

 

“Enough!” The brunette put his hands on his hips.

 

“My Lord.” The 8 foot tall, giant of a demon had gone down on one knee and was bowing his head to Xan.

 

He waved his hand indignantly in the air. “How dare you attack my mate?”

 

To the others the noise sounded like a dozen boulders being shifted over concrete, but Xander seemed to understand it perfectly, as he then replied with the same noise. Those that were still hiding looked at each other in confusion.

 

The creature supplicated itself further. “Forgive me, I thought it was attacking you, I did not realise the vampire was your mate.”

 

Xander’s head was pounding badly, like the mother of all migraines was raging, but he knew this was important… he didn’t know how he knew that, he just did. He rubbed at his temples as he conversed with the giant.

 

“What do you want here?”

 

“My Lord, I was sent by the council of my own dimension to request your help. We have been waiting for your arrival for many years, and when our Court Mage felt your becoming, I was instructed to come to you.”

 

“What help do you require?” He asked diplomatically.

 

“My people are under threat from another species, they wish to enslave us and use us as they wish. My people are peaceable and cannot beat them. They have strong weapons and we have none. We have managed to hold out against them by our sheer number but we are falling rapidly now. Please, you are the only one that can help us.”

 

Xander’s eyes flared a brilliant blue that made the envoy flinch slightly. “I will help you. But you must return home now, work out with your council what help would be most beneficial and least destructive and if it is satisfactory to me, it will be done. You will not need to return here.”

 

The giant bowed again before he rose, turned and stepped back through the swirling portal.

 

The stunned gang all began, as one, to start asking Xander what the hell had just happened. But he had clutched his head and collapsed to the ground unconscious.

 

Soul Illusion Chapter 5

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