Chapter Text
Drusilla laid back on the table and stared at the ceiling blissfully as Spike wheeled himself to her side. “Are we feeling better now love?”
The seer smiled. “I’m naming all the stars.”
Spike quirked an eyebrow and gave a wry grin. “You can't see the stars, love. That's the ceiling. Also, it's day.”
“I can see them,” Drusilla responded with an airy frown. “Oh, but all their songs sound of confusion. They speak and speak but I can’t understand them.”
“I’d say that’s normal, luv.” Spike hid a smirk. “They mention anything about the Pouf?”
“Well,” Angelus cleared his throat from his position at the side door while Spike and Drusilla’s heads snapped towards his position. “Angel moves to Los Angeles and tries to fulfill that Hollywood dream – ”
“The City of Angels,” Drusilla sang out as she rose to her feet. “Oh, the stars say they’ll build a throne from the bones of wolves and set you upon it, chocolate on your lips and blood on your fingertips! What a beautiful sight that will be; William at your side and me, the wandering bride!”
“Do you see anything else, Dru?” Spike prodded carefully, willfully ignoring Angelus as he moved closer.
“A broken bride,” Dru mused aloud sadly. “No white for me, but black leather?”
The seer paused, frowned, and then nodded decisively. “Yes, leather for the second child – but only if you have your chocolate,” Dru shook a finger at Angelus, “and I’ll wear black lace and sing for my king.”
“When?” Angelus prodded softly, but Drusilla merely turned towards Spike.
“The chocolate isn’t for you,” the vampiress scolded the blond. “No matter how good it looks, you mustn’t touch it. Plums are much better for you.”
“Sounds like I got the better deal, William,” Angelus mocked before Drusilla continued.
“Sweet sugar plums dance the night away,” the vampiress hummed a bar of ‘Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy’ absently as she twirled in place. “The stars say they’ll always come back to the beginning, but Mother’s gone now and you mustn’t ever let her back.”
“One of the best things the soul ever did,” Angelus sneered, “getting rid of that bitch.”
“Why don’t we make sure she doesn’t come back?” Spike sneered as he gestured for Angelus to turn around and face the looming blue demon behind him.
The Judge placed a firm hand on Angelus’ chest and the vampire raised an eyebrow at the demon.
“Hurts, doesn't it?” Spike sneered.
Angelus looked back over his shoulder. “Well, you know, it kinda itches a little.”
“Don't just stand there,” Spike snarled at the blue demon. “Burn him!”
“Gee, maybe he's broken,” Angelus mocked as he pulled out a cigarette with one hand and lit it with matches from the other.
“This one,” the Judge paused and removed his hand, “cannot be burnt. He is clean.”
“Clean?” Spike raised an eyebrow. “You mean, he's…”
“There's no humanity in him,” the blue demon replied before turning and leaving the room.
“Couldn't have said it better myself,” Angelus mocked as he turned to face Spike.
“No more of this ‘I've got a soul’ crap?”
“Soul’s gone,” Dru sang as she climbed back up on the table and began to dance. “Gone with the wind to circle the world, entangled in bare white bones, we’ll break, break, break…”
The seer collapsed to her knees with a dreamy smile. “And the gates will be thrown wide, roll the bloody dice, golden shackles for a golden throne…”
Drusilla gave a longing sigh. “Oh, such lovely songs the stars spin for our future.”
“But now,” Angelus gave a fanged grin and stroked Drusilla’s hair, “now, we play.”
“Got to tell you,” Spike leaned back into his chair, “it made me sick to my stomach seeing you as the Slayer's lap dog.”
Angelus growled and grabbed the blond by his shirt, lifting him partially out of the wheelchair. The brunet vampire laid a kiss on Spike’s forehead before lowering the blond back to his chair and stepping back. Spike laughed at the gesture, the two older vampires joining in respectively with deep chuckles and airy giggles.
“How’d you get back?” Spike asked curiously.
“You wouldn't believe me if I told you,” the eldest vampire said flatly.
“Sounds like an interesting story,” Spike commented softly before raising his voice. “Now you’re back its four against one and those are odds I like to play.”
Drusilla propped herself up on one arm and leaned toward Angelus. “Psst. We're going to destroy the world. Want to come?”
Angelus played with his cigarette. “Yeah. Destroying the world. Great. I'm really more interested in the Slayer and her pets.”
Spike raised an eyebrow. “Well, they’re in the world, so that should work out.”
“Give me a few nights, hmm?” The oldest vampire mused absently as he played with a lock of Drusilla’s hair. He didn’t know what the soul was thinking when it went after a blonde again; that never turned out well for him.
“What do you mean?” Spike frowned. The bastard really needed to keep his hands off his wicked ripe plum. And if Dru was the plum she’d mentioned earlier, well, he’d help Angelus find his damn chocolate in order to get him away from Drusilla.
“Lay low for a little bit,” Angelus advised as Drusilla chased after his fingers with her fangs. “By the time we go public the Slayer won't even resemble a threat.”
“Now, I know you haven't been in the game for a while, mate,” Spike drawled, “but we still do kill people. Sort of our raison d'etre, you know.”
“You don't want to kill her, do you?” Drusilla leaned back on the table. “You want to hurt her.” The seer smiled up at her Sire. “Just like you hurt me.”
“Well, she’d better not get in our way.”
“You really don’t get it, do you?” Angelus chuckled. “You tried to kill her, but she’s stronger than any Slayer you've ever faced. Force won't get it done. You gotta work from the inside. To kill this girl... you have to take everything she cares about.”
“You've really got a yen to hurt this girl, huh?”
“She made me feel something.” Angelus shrugged and then gave a truly vicious smirk. “And she has something I want.”
“So which comes first?” Spike worked to subtly angled himself between Drusilla and the other brunet, Angelus allowing the movement with an amused grin as Drusilla pouted.
“Once I have my pet, you can drain the Slayer, skin her, whatever. It’ll do you good to add a third Slayer to your count.” Angelus flicked a disdainful glance at Spike’s legs. “Once you’re better, of course.”
.~.~.~.
Buffy opened the door to Angel’s apartment and casually strolled inside, closing the door behind her as she looked for Angel. The bed was neatly made and a shirt was laid on it. Buffy walked to the bed and reached out to run a finger down the shirt sleeve.
Behind Buffy Angelus grabbed a necklace hanging from a statue and slipped it on as he eyed the Slayer. Not exactly who he wanted to see today.
Buffy turned around when she heard something behind her and her face lit up upon recognizing the vampire. “Angel!”
“Hey,” the vampire replied coolly as he reluctantly hugged the blonde back.
“Oh, my God! I was so worried!” Buffy said before she tried to kiss him in greeting.
“I didn't mean to frighten you,” Angel avoided the kiss by turning so that the Slayer no longer blocked him from reaching his shirt.
Buffy frowned and played with the ring on Angelus’ necklace. “Where did you go?”
“Been around.” Angelus frowned down at the blonde. She didn’t have the right to touch his ring.
“Ohhh.” Buffy hugged the vampire again. “I was freaking out! You just disappeared and no one knew where you were.”
“What?” Angelus shrugged out of the Slayer’s hold and picked up his shirt. “I took off.”
Buffy gave a confused frown. “But you didn't say anything. You just left.”
Angelus pulled on the shirt. “Yeah. Like I really wanted to stick around after that.”
“What?”
“You got a lot to learn about men, kiddo,” Angelus sneered. “Although I guess you proved that last night.”
“What are you saying?” the blonde questioned querulously.
“Let's not make an issue out of it, okay?” The vampire went for his coat and pulled it on. “In fact, let's not talk about it at all. It didn’t happen.”
“I… I don't understand. Was it m-me?” Buffy averted her eyes and lowered her voice. “Was I not good enough?”
The vampire laughed. “You weren’t bad for a blonde. Really. Almost thought you were a pro.”
“How can you say that?” Buffy accused as she stepped forward and leveled a reproachful finger at her one-time lover.
“Lighten up.” Angelus laughed. “The sex was decent – no big deal – but blondes don’t really do it for me anymore. I’ve got my eye on a brunet who really gets me going.”
“How can you say that?” Buffy exclaimed. “It is a big deal!”
“It's what? Bells ringing, fireworks, a dulcet choir of pretty little birdies?” The vampire laughed again. “Come on, Buffy. It's not like I've never been there before and your neck’s clean.”
Angelus reached up his hand to run the back of his fingers down her cheek and Buffy jerked away. “Don’t touch me. And stay away from Cordelia.”
Angelus shook his finger at the blonde. “I should've known you wouldn't be able to handle it.”
The vampire turned to leave his apartment, but stopped when Buffy yelled his old name.
“Angel!”
Angelus turned to face the Slayer and had to suppress a sneer at her teary eyes.
“I love you,” the blonde admitted lowly.
“Sure, me too.” The vampire gave a twisted smile and turned away. “I'll call you.”
.~.~.~.
Xander shivered as the school lights suddenly went out. “Okay, the lights? Totally wiggins-worthy.”
Willow tried to look around in the dark. “What's going on?”
“Let's just get to the library,” Xander said as he tugged on the redhead’s arm.
Angelus appeared behind the two humans. “Willow. Xander.”
Xander and Willow immediately turned around.
“Angel,” Xander ground out. Would have been better if the sun-hating bastard had stayed gone.
“Thank God you're okay,” Willow breathed out. “Did you see Buffy?”
The vampire shrugged. “Yeah. What's up with the lights?”
Xander shrugged back. “I don’t know, but I think I have an idea.”
Angelus waved away that idea dismissively. “Forget about that now.” The vampire gave a charming grin and purred out his next words. “I have something to show you.”
“Show us?” Willow asked curiously.
“Need to talk to Xander first,” Angelus corrected, elaborating when Willow looked at him suspiciously. “It’s a guy thing. Why don’t you go get the others?”
“Well if you’re sure…” the redhead said softly before turning and running towards the library.
“Follow me,” Angelus turned around and walked deeper into the dark.
“What do you want?” Xander reluctantly followed the vampire, frowning at the scent practically wafting off the other male. “You know you smell like cinnamon, right?”
Angelus reached into his pocket before suddenly stopping and turning around with supernatural speed. Xander bumped into his chest when he couldn’t walking in time and in the ensuing confusion the vampire managed to bind Xander’s arms together behind his back.
Xander struggled against the rope for a few moments before scowling at the vampire. “This better not be your crappy sense of humor, Deadboy, because Buffy won’t find this funny.”
“Let him go,” Jenny spoke from behind Xander as he entered the hall with a cross held in front of her.
“But he’s so pretty,” Angelus purred as he wrapped his arm around Xander’s torso to grip his hip and force the against his body. “A perfect little gift.”
“I have a gift for you,” Jenny gave a hard smile. “It’s called your soul.”
Xander froze in the vampire’s grasp. “Oh, my God. Oh my God.”
Angelus slung his other arm around Xander’s chest and rested his palm over the teen’s nipple. “Not interested, gypsy.”
“Who said you had a choice?” the technopagan responded as she slipped a hand into her pocket.
The vampire kneaded Xander’s hip and chest before responding. “I did.”
“I told you to let him go,” Jenny repeated as she pulled out a handful of herbs.
Angelus slid his hand up Xander’s chest to cup his throat and gave a cold smile to the gypsy over the teen’s shoulder. “I don’t think I will.”
“You don’t have a choice,” Buffy said in hard voice from behind him.
Angelus spun sideways to keep both women in his view, but was still careful to keep Xander pinned to his front. “Oh, but I always have a choice.”
Willow finally appeared next to Jenny and gasped. “Oh, my God. That’s not Angel is it?”
“Wrong.” The vampire flashed a predatory smile and tightened his hand on Xander’s hip. “I am Angel, at long last!”
Angelus turned his attention to Buffy. “I was planning on leaving you a message.”
“Why don’t you write it down?” the Slayer snarked back.
“Well, it's not really the kind of message you tell. It sort of involves finding the bodies of all your little friends,” Angelus vamped out and bit the lobe of Xander’s ear, “one,” he licked up the blood, “by,” Angelus sucked on the earlobe, “one.”
“This can't be you,” Buffy said in shock as she eyed the two men.
“Gee,” Angelus sneered, “we already covered that subject.”
“Angel,” Buffy tried again, “there must be some part of you inside that still remembers who you are.”
“Dream on, schoolgirl.” Angel tightened his grip on Xander’s throat. “This is who I am.”
Jenny snuck closer to the vampire, careful to keep the cross in front of her as she mouthed the words to a spell.
“Your boyfriend is dead,” Angelus sneered, “and you're going to join him.”
Buffy settled into a fighting stance. “Leave Xander alone and deal with me.”
“But he's so cute,” Angelus forced Xander’s hips back against his own with one hand, “and helpless. A real turn-on.”
Jenny shouted the final word to the spell and threw the herbs Angelus, forcing the vampire to release Xander in order to avoid the kick Buffy aimed at him from the other side.
Xander stumbled towards Willow as Angelus back-handed Jenny away in order to grip Buffy’s shoulders.
The Slayer froze at the look on his face and the vampire leaned in to whisper in her ear. “Things are about to get very interesting.”
Angelus shoved her hard against the wall and backed out the door. “I’ll see you soon.”
Xander moved closer to Buffy as Willow worked to undo knots in the cinnamon-scented red cord that bound his arms behind his back and Jenny slowly levered herself to her feet. “You okay, Buff?”
Buffy simply stared at the door.
.~.~.~.
Buffy kicked Angelus in the face, then in the chest, forcing him to stagger backwards and crash into one of the mall’s myriad potted plants. The blonde pulled out a stake and paused. She loved Angel, but it was Angelus in control of the body now and he’d tried to kill everyone in the mall using the Judge; Angelus deserved to die, but Angel didn’t, and they were in the same body.
Angelus took the time to straighten and turn to face her head on once more. Buffy didn’t move, just lowered the stake and stared the vampire. She couldn’t kill her lover.
“You can't do it,” Angelus taunted as he looked at her. Such a weak Slayer. “You can't kill me.”
Buffy gritted her teeth in anger and kicked him in the balls. Angelus grabbed his crotch in response and dropped to his knees with a painful moan.
“Give me time,” Buffy said lowly as she swallowed and walked away from the man who had been her lover.
“Only as long as it takes me to claim what’s mine, Slayer,” Angelus whispered cruelly as he fluidly rose to his feet. “Not a moment longer.”
.~.~.~.
Xander looked through his front door’s peephole suspiciously before opening the door to the pizza deliveryman, careful to stay within the house’s threshold in deference to the fact it was after dark on the Hellmouth.
“You might want to pick up your mail more often,” the blond teen said as he used a foot to push a sealed box towards Xander. “Tripping over things sucks. Pizza’s $12.99.”
Xander handed the money off to the pizza deliveryman, careful to stay out of grabbing range as he accepted the pizza in return, but leveled a suspicious look at the package as the blond walked away. Higher aspects only knew who had put that box on his porch and with Angelus wandering around he didn’t want to open anything he wasn’t completely sure about. He’d stolen a peak at some of Giles’ Watcher books that talked about the Scourge now that Angelus was back in full force and the vampire was rather famous for leaving creepy gifts on people’s porches. The puppy thing was especially wiggins-worthy.
The brunet set the pizza on an end table and kneeled down to reach out an arm so he could carefully pull open a box flap while the box was still on the porch. Xander stood up to peak over the edge of the box and titled his head sideways at the sight of a pile of smooth jewel-tones intermingled with chocolate silk. And, geez, he really spent way too much time with girls if he was using words like ‘jewel-tones’ and ‘chocolate silk.’
Xander grabbed the decrepit umbrella by the door and used the smooth handle to move aside what were evidently shirts to make sure nothing dangerous was hidden under the fabric. It would be just his luck for him to take the box inside and then find that it contained some type of curse or vampire-invite.
The box looked safe enough, wasn’t bloody, and Cordelia had been complaining about his shirts lately…
Maybe the box of clothes was from her?
Xander tilted his head to the side and finally pulled the box through the door into his living room. Wouldn’t hurt to check what was inside just in case.
And, damn, those shirts were even silkier than they looked. Definitely from Cordy.