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Kin of the Heart
If you thought parties went bad in canon... wait until you see this Christmas party gone wrong. Everything will change now.Previous parts:
Part one: Bumbling to a Save
Part two: Family Ties
Part three: Devil in the Details
Part Four: Bad Karma
Part Five: Rust Upon Iron
Part Six: Mending Fences... or tearing them down
Part Seven: Quiet Waters Mirroring Undistorted
Part Eight: Bait, Swindle and Self-destruct
Part Nine: Deaf, Dumb, and Destiny-blind
Part Ten: The Road Not Taken
Part Eleven: Full Circle on the Lesson
Part Twelve: The Care and Feeding of Humans
Part Thirteen: A Little Brutal Honesty with Tea
Part Fourteen: A Slippery Leash
"Maybe I shouldn't go," Angel said as he stood uncomfortably pulling at his sweater. Christmas had never been his favorite holiday as they had gone to church and then sat in hard chairs while his father read bible lessons. Most of them seemed to center around how sinful Liam had been during the year and how disappointed his father was. Santa Clause and Christmas cards and parties were certainly not how he remembered the day. Angel much preferred Nollaig na mBan, Women's Christmas, which came twelve days later. His mother would have her friends over, and he would listen at the door and bring them treats and sometimes get a peek of some neighbor girl's leg. Epiphany they called it now, only Xander said that no one truly celebrated that day anymore. In fact, Xander would be at school. Angel pulled at his sweater again, truly disliking the red and green colors.
"We're already here, so no 'going' required," Xander said as he caught Angel by the arm.
"Maybe I should check on Faith."
"Okay, Faith is fine. How much trouble can a slayer get into hanging out with the GED folks, and wow that was a stupid thing to say." Xander flinched as he realized how he'd just hexed himself. Angel did not truly understand why the others believed in that sort of hexing, but they did. Xander shrugged, obviously realizing he couldn't take the words back. "You really do not blend into the woodwork there, so give her some space. I have specific orders from her to not let you come act all weirdly parental."
Xander started pulling Angel toward Joyce's house. "Look, Cordy has to do some party thing with her folks, and I'm stuck Christmas Day with the parentals, so we are spending Christmas Eve together at Buffy's party. Period. The end." Xander got that stubborn expression on his face, and Angel struggled to come up with a reason... any reason... for leaving. He came up blank. He never thought he would be wishing for an apocalypse. Before he could argue more, Xander was tugging him toward the front door.
With a sigh, Angel allowed himself to be pulled up the steps. "I'm not planning on being nice to Giles or that Scott boy," he growled as Xander rang the bell.
"Buffy is trying to avoid the freaky, so teachers will not be coming to her Christmas party, and she is so over Scott Hope. She's back to Devon," Xander said, and then the door flew open and Buffy was there.
"She—" Angel was cut off by a slayer-volume squeal.
"Xander! And Angel. Wow. I so did not think he would get you to come to any gathering that didn't have a potential for bloodshed, and please let there be no potential bloodshed here," Buffy's smile slipped and she gave a bit of a grimace at that thought.
"Hey, it's Christmas Eve, no bloodshed allowed. I will stand up and order any potential mayhem to come back the day after tomorrow," Xander said firmly.
"My hero," Buffy smiled as she took Xander's other arm and pulled him in. Xander jerked to a stop when Angel hit the barrier, but he didn't let go of Angel's arm.
"Oh, Angel, I’m sorry," Buffy flinched as she looked around quickly.
"You're clear; Joyce didn't see, and if she had seen I was fully prepared to introduce Angel as my mime friend."
"Your what?" Angel asked, his eyebrows going up.
"Hey, no bloodshed, remember?" Buffy laughed. "Angel, you are officially invited into my home."
The barrier evaporated, and Angel stepped through into the slayer's home. Buffy clearly had advantages that Faith and Kendra had not. He wondered how much of her remarkable survival was due to Giles' training, and how much came from the fact she had a stable home with a clearly loving parent. Speaking of Buffy's mother, Joyce walked across the room, leaving a huge bowl of chips on the coffee table as she stepped around Oz and Willow. Angel had seen her from a distance, both in Sunnydale and back in LA where he'd watched her and her husband fight over Buffy's expulsion from school, but he'd never seen her up close. She was a handsome woman.
"Hello. You must be Xander's friend, the one who's tutoring him," Joyce held out her hand, but Angel could see the suspicion in her eyes. Did every person they meet insist on assuming he had designs on Xander?
"Angel O'Connelly," he introduced himself as he shook her hand quickly and then pulled back before she could notice the lack of body heat. "I'm more than just a friend," he said and Joyce's back stiffened. "I was very good friends with Xander's uncle, Destry LaVelle. He was a bit of a mentor to me when I went to law school, and before he went to South America, he made me promise that I would keep an eye on his favorite nephew," Angel said, putting all his charm forward. He didn't like charming humans, it felt too much like stalking them, but he could if necessary. And Joyce was just too strong and too ethical of a woman to have suspicions and not act on them. So, he definitely needed to allay her fears before he had to deal with Social Services on top of what Blair assured him was normal teen angst.
"Oh, and when do you expect your uncle back?" Joyce asked Xander.
"He's dead," Xander shrugged, a dozen pretzels already in his mouth. Angel could have groaned. Xander had many skills, but lying or even obfuscating would never be one. When Joyce looked at him with horror and sadness and just a little confusion, Xander finally caught on. He swallowed, choked on pretzel crumbs, and then finally offered Joyce a sad smile. "He died a while back, and I didn't know him all that well. My dad really hated Uncle Destry, which is probably the best character reference you can get because my dad is..." Xander looked at Angel in panic as he realized that he was in over his head, but Joyce was already melting with maternal pity.
"I'm so sorry. Your uncle sounds like a wonderful man, and I'm sure he's very proud to see how you're growing up." Joyce took Xander by the arm and herded him over to the snack table, pointing out all the treats with chocolate in them with a motherly tone.
"He mentored you in law school?" Buffy asked with a conspiratorial smile.
"You spend your evenings in your room?" Angel asked right back. He wasn't the only one lying to Joyce.
"Ouch. That was point-like," she said as she slipped a hand through his arm and stepped into the living room with him. "Angel, you know Oz and Willow," she said as she waved her hand in their direction. Willow was totally focused on Oz, her hand hovering near his arm. Oz looked a little less invested in her as he looked up and gave Angel a smile. He suspected the werewolf had been bothered by Willow's wandering interests; after all, vampires weren't the only ones with superior senses.
"Hey," Oz offered. Willow gave him a quick glance and then focused right back in on Oz. She was biting her lip and he was carefully not looking at her. Angel wondered how soon he could talk Xander into leaving.
"Larry's over there. For an ex, he's really cool about it," Buffy said. "Actually, I like him more as an ex than as a boyfriend because he was a little creepy in the boyfriend department."
Angel made absolutely no comment on that. Considering the stories he'd heard from Xander and the various things he'd sniffed on her boyfriends, Angel would categorize most of her boyfriends as creepy.
"And Freddy Iverson is the editor of the newspaper." Buffy waved at a boy on the opposite end of the food table, and he waved back. Angel made an awkward wave of his own and mentally vowed revenge on Xander. Broccoli was in the boy's future. Buffy whispered to him while still smiling at a clearly uncomfortable Freddy. "I was trying to get him to write an article about the real Cordelia Chase, the one that has the morality of a really slimy demon, but strangely he has ethics. Clearly, he is not going into journalism for a career. Anyway, Willow said that his parents do the whole Jewish ignoring Christmas thing, so we invited him."
Angel tried to smile at the boy with glasses and long hair who was staking out the food table even though he was so thin Angel doubted he actually ate. "Um, okay," he said. Yes, this was clearly hell. He might actually become nostalgic about his own family's Christmases at this rate.
"And of course Devon," Buffy said, her tone of voice shifting and lust drifting from her as the singer strolled over to them. Buffy's scent made Angel's nose itch. Angel really disliked the boy with his leather coat and floppy hair and the strange dimple in the middle of his forehead. He reminded Angel of the man in that movie with the music where a perfectly nice girl started dressing like Faith in order to sing to the male as she danced around a carnival. It was a disturbing movie.
"Hey," Devon said, his head bobbing to some music only he could hear. Buffy smiled at him. "Hey," he repeated, "don't I know you?" He frowned at Angel.
"Yes," Angel answered. Devon just looked at him for a second, his head-bopping pausing.
"Cool," he finally answered as he went back to bopping. He leaned over and nearly swallowed Buffy's tongue as his hands went to places where Angel generally didn't grab girls until after he'd paid, but she broke away with a desperate look toward her mother. Joyce was standing with her arms crossed and a frown on her face. It had been a long time since Angel had been human, but he still remembered that look. After grabbing something green from the food table, Joyce made a beeline for them.
"So, Mr. O'Connelly," she said, her eyes never leaving Devon, "you're a lawyer."
Angel looked at Buffy, and she looked as uncomfortable as he felt. In fact, Devon seemed like the only one who wasn't feeling the heat of Joyce's glare.
"What sort of law do you practice?" she asked him as she thrust the bowl of green blob in his hand. Angel took it automatically and looked over at Xander for a rescue. Xander, however, was deep in conversation with Larry... or possibly ignoring him. While he might care for the little ingrate, Angel had no doubt he would abandon Angel in the middle of hell if it amused him.
"Ah, contracts and—"
"How nice," Joyce cut him off. Angel followed the line of her glare and found Devon's hand still dangerously low on Buffy's backside. Buffy stepped forward and broke contact.
"Mom, you should listen to Freddy describe this really cool new thing he's doing with the paper. It has something to do with... paper," she finished lamely as she hurried her mother away from Devon.
"Well... damn," Devon said with a shrug before he headed over to the couch and dropped down beside Oz.
Willow was talking to both of them, but Angel ignored her.
"It's Jello. You eat it," Xander said with amusement as he came over, his own plate full of chocolate.
"You eat it," Angel said as he held the bowl and spoon out for him.
"Oh no. No, tonight I am chocolate-loyal. I am chocolate-faithful. I am planning to eat enough chocolate to make myself sick, and seeing how much food is here, I am so glad we forgot to bring anything for the pot luck."
Angel froze. "You said we were not supposed to bring anything," Angel whispered. He had wanted to bring a gift, and Xander had absolutely vetoed his suggestion.
"Okay, you do not bring wine to an underage girl's party," Xander said as he rolled his eyes. "Um, but we were supposed to bring something sugary or in any other way potentially damaging to good oral hygiene. Look, no big. Eat your Jello," Xander said and then he was smiling at Freddie and hurrying over to talk about seven out of nine somethings.
Backing away from the room full of adolescent children, Angel stood pressed to the banister, wondering if he could hide upstairs without getting caught.
"It's hard being the adult at one of these, huh?" Joyce said as she came up to stand next to him. "But I respect you for coming. So many of these parents say they will provide adequate supervision and then they don't." She nodded knowingly, and Angel shoved a spoonful of Jello in his mouth to avoid having to answer.
He disliked eating human food. The feeling of something in his stomach always triggered his hunger. The pig blood never totally satisfied him, and the additional hunger made it difficult for him to control his urges, but right now, he could handle that more than a conversation with a woman who he had been warned about not upsetting. Both Xander and Buffy had been very adamant about him not upsetting her.
"The Wells family, they have a girl two years older than Andrew--who's just a year behind Xander and Buffy--I heard from the Rosenburgs that they hosted a party and three kids were killed driving home drunk afterwards. The parents actually bought alcohol for them. It's a tragedy that the Wells girl had to die, but apparently they are much more careful now with Andrew. Sometimes, though, I do worry about the influences in this town."
She glanced over, and Angel shoved more Jello in his mouth. This... foodstuff... was like eating water.
"You really like that, don't you? I can't stand the lime," she said. "I'll get you more."
Angel opened his mouth to protest, but she had already grabbed the bowl and spoon from him and headed back to the table. Taking the opportunity, he aimed for the kitchen where he'd seen Xander disappear.
"Angel, my man, good Jello, yes?" Devon asked, cutting him off before he could get more than a single step.
"The best Jello I've ever tasted," Angel agreed truthfully. Of course, he'd also tasted horse manure that was not too far behind it in terms of things he wanted in his mouth. The texture was clearly intended to torture the eater, and it tasted more of chemicals than food. The only redeeming quality was the way it made him nauseous enough to not care about his constant hunger.
Devon gave a knowing laugh and winked at him. And then Joyce was back, that mother-glare on her face again. With one more wink, Devon retreated back to Buffy's side, but at least this time he kept his hands off her posterior. "I don't know what she sees in him," she sighed as she gave Angel the Jello. Again, eating was much preferable to talking.
"I liked that Scott boy. I don't know why Buffy dumped him."
"He was homosexual," Angel said, happy to finally have something to contribute to the conversation. Joyce looked at him oddly. "Xander told me," Angel added awkwardly. He knew about the homosexuality from smelling the boy, and Joyce was not supposed to know about the smelling of humans.
"Oh," she said weakly. "I suppose that is a reason to stop dating him."
Angel nodded and ate more Jello. He missed Christmas in Ireland where it wasn't so hot.
"But there's Larry. He seems like a very pleasant young man. Buffy, however, seems intent on dating the most inappropriate boys possible."
Angel snorted. "Oh, yeah," he agreed. And she did. She had liked him. He was a vampire, so that was completely inappropriate. Him dating anyone was inappropriate. Although he had sometimes thought about the vampires down at the suck house. He missed sex.
Heading for the table, Angel took more of that green Jello and then grabbed a pretzel. He'd seen Xander eat them all the time. Sometimes he stuck the whole thing in his mouth, and it made his cheeks bulge. It reminded him of how William's cheeks would bulge out when he was sucking Angel's cock. Angel chuckled at the thought. He liked how Xander never really let himself not have fun just because someone else might think he was strange. Angel and Liam had both spent too much time worrying about what other people might think. Angel stuck the whole pretzel in his mouth and nearly choked as a bit broke off and caught him in the back of the throat.
He swallowed and coughed and then turned to assure the room that he was fine. "Good thing I don't have to breathe, yes?" he asked. Buffy's eyes looked all weird.
Xander appeared like magic in front of him, and Angel stuck his spoon into the Jello bowl on the table and offered it to Xander. "Thanks, but again with the no. Angel, are you okay?" Xander asked.
"I feel good," Angel agreed. "But I'm hot." He frowned and picked up the large bowl of Jello as he headed for the front door. "I should go hunting." Angel stopped and turned around. "Xander, I like that you don't let other people try to tell you to not be yourself. You're a good yourself, and you should not change. Nary a bit, ye hear me, boy?" Angel headed back for the door, and suddenly Joyce was there in his way.
"Man, that is one seriously wacked out trip he's on," Devon's voice offered. Maybe it was Devon. Maybe it was Penn. It sounded a little like Penn.
"He... what? Buffy, your boyfriend got Angel stoned?!!" That was Xander. Angel knew Xander's voice.
"Buffy Anne Summers!"
"I didn't know, Mom! Devon, this is..."
"Uncool does not even cover it." At that voice, Angel turned and growled. There was a werewolf in his territory.
"Angel, okay, we need to be leaving."
"Xander, I think we should call 911."
"Whoa, hey, the cops are totally unnecessary," the Penn voice answered Joyce.
"I am so over you. I never want to see you again. I can't believe you did this at my party, only yes, I'm with the believing because seeing is believing and seeing a stoned Angel is just big with the weird and the believing that you are a big, giant, humongo jerk!"
"And time for us to go." Angel frowned as hands pushed on his back. Without moving his feet, he turned to look over his shoulder, and he could see Xander pushing for all his worth. If Xander wanted him to move, perhaps there was a reason. Angel started walking forward. He stopped when his face ran into the door.
"That's it, I'm calling 911. Poor Mr. O'Connelly. Did you see how much he ate? Devon MacLeish, you stay right there until you tell me what you put in there and exactly how much."
"Buff, help please."
"Mom, I'm sure Angel's going to be fine as soon as he sleeps this off, right Xander?"
"I actually meant help getting the door open."
"Oh. Right."
"I think you need to wait for an ambulance."
"Angel hates hospitals; he's into holistical medicine with the herbs and the... herbs. And a lawyer getting stoned is not with the good, mom." A hand reached in front of Angel and yanked the door open and he vamped out. Slayer. He wasn't going to turn to dust for some slip of a girl not as old as his record collection.
"Xander!"
"Got him!"
Angel frowned as Xander was in front of him, and the slayer was gone. And then they were outside. The smells made Angel flinch away. "Oh, we are so going home, and tomorrow, you can kill Devon for fun," Xander said to him cheerfully. Kill Devon. Yes, that might be fun. Angel smiled as he turned to go back in, but Xander was pulling him. Maybe they needed to kill someone else first. He followed.
"I am so sick of this," Angel said as Xander helped him into the passenger side of his own car. He frowned. This was wrong; he was supposed to drive.
"Sick of what?" Xander asked as he got in and started the car. There were humans gathered at the front of the house. Enough humans to slake the hunger he carried all the time. He was so tired of being hungry. "Earth to Angel, sick of what?" Xander asked again. Angel turned his gaze from the humans to Xander. He would make a good vampire one day. He and William would be a good pair. Light and dark, lithe and muscled, the artist with words and the artist with his hands. Angel had a stake with a dragon Xander had carved for good luck, and the boy was good with his hands. His work was a little crude, but he would have a few hundred years to improve. He would be better than William was with his ridiculous words of love. William with all his sharp angles had always reminded him a wee bit much of Darla—a sire he adored and hated in equal amounts.
"Okay, Angel, I’m officially freaking out here, and I have no idea what the demonic equivalent of 911 is, so you need to start talking to me."
"I'm sick of being hungry." Angel stretched, feeling the bones in his back pop.
"You're hungry? Okay, vampire munchies. I can deal with vampire munchies. We'll just go home and..."
"No."
"No you're not hungry? Come on, Angel, make some sense here."
"I'm not drinking pig's blood. Did he think he could starve the demon out of him? Fool."
"Okay, random referring to self in third person... I am going to kill Devon."
Angel laughed. "Oh yes. Devon would be a fine one to start with. Thick, rich human blood finally filling the empty hole in me. I'm na fond of starvation."
"And the freaky keeps coming," Xander breathed, his hands clutching the wheel. Angel reached over and rubbed his hand over the boy's shoulder, feeling the muscles tense under his ministration.
"Too bad you don't have another six or seven years on ya," Angel said as he let his hand drift down to Xander's arm. The training had firmed the boy up. Hopefully he'd turn well and keep those skills. Some vampires turned better than others. It had taken him years to finally get William set right. Of course, he hadn't known the lad before he'd been turned so who knew what had attracted Drusilla's eye.
"Um... Angel... that would be manhandling. Manhandling bad. Not as bad as some other things I can think of, but I'm not thinking about those things. Nope. No, those are mentally off limits." Xander was starting to smell of fear now, the lovely scent drifting from him in soft threads.
"Pull over," Angel said as he leaned in and smelled the side of Xander's neck.
"Hey, I have an idea... let's go visit Clem," Xander said. Angel's hand darted out and grabbed the boy by the neck and squeezed just hard enough to cut off the air. The car jerked to the side and took out a blue mail dropbox before Xander could hit the brakes.
"I have an idea. You stop the car and let me drive," Angel suggested with a smile. He breathed deeply, relishing the fear that flowed from the boy now. Xander threw the car into park even though he still couldn't breathe. Most humans would have panicked by now and started helplessly flailing. But then he had been training this human. This human knew how impossible it was to fight him. Slowly, Angel let Xander's neck go, watching to see if the prey instinct would make him flee. The lad wouldn't get far, but it might be amusing.
Instead, Xander just rubbed his neck and stared straight ahead for a long time. Angel leaned back, smiled, and just waited. Eventually, Xander flicked a quick glance at him, and then another, and then finally he worked up the nerve to look right at Angel. Raising an eyebrow, Angel just waited to see what the boy would have to say.
"So, um, I'm guessing whatever Devon gave you made you really, really happy," Xander said as he swallowed, his fingers still rubbing his neck.
Without answer, Angel got out of the car and walked around to the driver's side. Xander scrambled to the passenger's seat without even needing to be ordered. Maybe he should make this one the way he made Penn—with encouragement and praise. Penn had certainly grown up well... at least until he annoyed Angel. However, Xander was a little smarter, and a little more creative than Penn.
Dropping into the driver's seat, Angel ran his hands over the controls. "The soul is just so pathetic. The self-hating and do gooding is enough to make me want to strangle him."
"What with soul-you and not-soul-you sharing the same body, that would kinda hurt, wouldn't it?" Xander asked, but Angel could smell the fear. He gave the boy credit for having bollocks like an Angus bull.
"Sometimes pain is to be sought after," Angel said, and the fear took a sharp spike. He smiled as he started the car. First order of business was dinner. "Not that the soul is willing to admit that. He is such a stick-up-his-ass humanitarian I'm surprised he's not sipping tea with the watcher. They're both first class prats. But you... I'm surprised that he keeps you around."
"Me? Doesn't Angel like me... the soul-having Angel, I mean, because if you're not liking me, the soul-free you, I'm not really taking offense. Unless not liking would lead to torture and dismemberment... in that case I'd prefer you like me. Only, not too much." Xander swallowed, and Angel felt nearly intoxicated with the beautiful scent of fear.
"Oh, he likes you. He just buries that so down deep that he doesn't even think about it too much." Angel reached over and rested his hand on Xander's knee. Obviously, that was the limit of Xander's ability to control his prey-instincts because he tried to scramble away. Angel tightened his hand until his fingers dug deep into the flesh. The boy would be delightfully colorful tomorrow. Again, Xander surprised him by settling down and not fighting back.
"Soul-Angel is not like that," Xander said slowly and carefully, and now the fear was spiced with the aroma of salt.
"Soul-Angel, soul-free Angel. That is really annoying." He considered the problem for a moment. "Call me Angelus. I really always did prefer Angelus over Angel. It's a grander name, one that warns people that I am not someone to take lightly. Angelus conjures images of mighty warrior angels, beautiful and deadly. Angels... angels are overgrown pixies in pink," Angelus snorted. "And Angel does think of you. He thinks of watching you grow old or turning you. He thinks of you throwing yourself on some demon like the idiotic white knight you try to be, and he thinks of having to watch you bleed out." Angelus let his hand trail up Xander's leg until he could seize his upper thigh. "He has nightmares of smelling your blood and draining you. But then the moron starves himself so much that I'm surprised he hasn't."
"Mucho with the disturbo," Xander muttered.
"Use that phone to call William," Angelus ordered as he cruised the street. He had his potential childe here, but now he wanted his two favorite childer. Unlike so many of the others he'd turned, he'd never tired of William's desperate struggle to be accepted or Drusilla's slavish attentions.
"What? Nevermind, doing," Xander quickly added. Angelus smiled at the evidence that a single frown could correct the boy. A whip would do wonders with him. "And what am I saying when I call him?"
"Whatever you like," Angelus suggested. He only had to let William know that he was back and they would both come running home and take their proper place at his feet.
"Whatever I like. Yeah, I'd like to say that we went to this really boring party with Faith's GED friend with the eye that goes all over the place and no one got stoned. Can't say that," he mumbled as the phone rang.
Angelus tightened his hold on Xander's thigh, and the boy stopped muttering with a pained hiss.
"Wot?" William finally snapped from the other end. He sounded drunk. How far he had come from that foppish poet Drusilla had dragged home.
"Spike, hey, you sound... really shitty," Xander said, his voice high and in danger of cracking.
"Xand? What's wrong, pet?"
"Sounds like I'm not the only one with the wrong. Are you okay?"
Angelus rolled his eyes. As long as William wasn't dust, he would survive.
"Not really, luv. Drusilla up and left. She's healthy, so she can tend herself, but I didn't see it coming, and she didn't even bother tryin' ta shove me out into the sun."
Smirking at that bit of information, Angelus imagined all the ways to torture his sweet William over that failure. His own sire had abandoned him. Oh yes, very amusing.
"But somethin's not right on the Hellmouth, that's for bloody sure. What's wrong, pet, and don't give me any of that 'nothing' bollocks."
"Nope, not even going to try and say 'nothing.' But guess who's back in town," Xander tried for humorous, and his voice broke, making him sound like a child. Out of patience, Angelus reached over and pulled the phone away from him.
"William, my boy, it's time for you to come home."
"Angel?" Spike sounded confused.
"To avoid confusing discussions of souls, let's just call me Angelus," he suggested. "And I had expected you to keep my beautiful girl safe. You do know how she gets, William. You will be punished for your failure."
"Bloody hell," Spike breathed on the other end, and Angelus laughed.
"You have twenty-four hours to get here, and for every hour late, I'm going to cut a pound of flesh off your body, understand?" Angelus demanded.
"Yes, sire," William quickly agreed. Angelus smiled as he tossed the phone back to Xander.
"Spike?" Xander said into the phone, and now the fear smell was nearly overpowering.
"Pet, are you alright?"
"Depending on your definition of alright, of course I'm not! But I still have all my blood inside my body, so I'm hoping for something alright-shaped if not actually alright," Xander babbled. The words made no sense to Angelus, but Spike made a little soothing noise. Making a mental note to invest some time turning the two boys against each other so they would remain devoted to their sire, Angelus turned down the main street.
"Don't argue with him, luv. Just do what he says."
"I figured that one out on my own," Xander gave a weak laugh and Angelus stopped the car at the edge of a park before grabbing the phone.
"Tick-tock, Willy. Tick-tock," he sing-songed mockingly before hitting the end button. Xander was staring at him with eyes so wide the white of them made a full circle. There were annoyingly few prey wandering around, but a young couple holding hands and staring up at the stars caught his attention. If he was lucky, he could grab and disable the girl before her mate had a chance to discover that he was outmatched. "A lesson, boy," Angelus said as he literally sprang over Xander to land beside the passenger side of the car. Xander's eyes flickered to the keys still in the ignition, and Angelus rested his hand on Xander's shoulder, digging his fingers in just enough to warn him to be good. Xander settled.
"When hunting a young pair, always go for the female first. Males are predictably arrogant and will assume they can take you out. When hunting older pairs, go for the male or a child. Women are stupidly loyal to their mates once they have made a commitment, far more so than men. I've seen men offer up their wives to try and save their own worthless hides. You should have seen the look of abject pain in the women's eyes when they realized their husband's love did not actually extend to 'death do us part'."
Xander swallowed, his gaze now falling on the couple Angelus had targeted. Xander's fingers twitched as Angelus opened the door for him. He would not leave his pet behind to get in trouble. With no warning, Xander was suddenly screaming.
"RUN... FIRE! RAPE!! POLICE RAID! RUN! No, seriously RUN!"
The couple looked over in shock, and Angelus vamped out in frustration. Unfortunately, that did make them run. Oh, Angelus could catch them, but not without losing his pet. Growling, he grabbed Xander by the shirt and slammed him onto the hood of the car. Tears leaked from the sides of Xander's eyes, but he didn't say anything as he clutched Angelus' arms and stared up.
"Do that again, and I will kill you," he growled.
"Um, you killing other people while I just stand to the side? No offense, but seriously... do you really think I'll ever do that?"
"You will if you want to live."
"Okay, I'm really liking the being alive part of living, but I won't live at the cost of someone else's life."
Angelus bared his teeth, and the stubborn little git just set his jaw. As much as he had planned to keep the boy around, Angelus had no intention of trying to break such pertinacious behavior... not just for the pleasure of a hunting companion. He bent down to take his first real meal in decades, and his teeth sank easily into the soft flesh. Unlike most victims, Xander did not even make a sound as he fisted Angelus' shirt. Three mouthfuls of blood later, Angelus was ripped away from his meal by a wave of vertigo that made him stumble and then fall to one knee. No. No. He struggled, slamming his head into the door of the car before that damnable soul rose up into his throat.
"Xander, I can't hold him. Run," Angel's pained whisper warned the boy. Angelus expected to hear footsteps fleeing, but instead a warm hand rested on his back. Despair washed over Angel, and Angelus took firm control over the body again.
Chuckling, he stood slowly and turned to consider his bleeding victim. "You're an idiot, boy," he said as he stepped forward and caught Xander by the back of his neck. Angelus' fingers smeared the blood that still leaked from the open wound. The smell of blood and of Angelus' own scent marks all over the boy made him hungry for more than the taste he'd managed to get.
"Um, yep, I'm big with the stupid," Xander nodded. "But Angel's still in there. That means that sooner or later, you're going to get stuck under him, right?"
"Not if I can find Devon. I imagine he would give me many more pills in order to save his life," Angelus pointed out.
"But then you'll have Angel always in there with the poking and the distracting, and you told me there's some big bad coming, so you probably won't live long before you're dust, and dust has to be worse than being stuck under Angel and all that hair gel."
"Do you have a point, boy?" Angelus asked, not liking the direction this conversation was going. Moronic gypsies couldn't even get a curse right. Happiness was supposed to give him his freedom, not give him some temporary reprieve marred by the presence of the damned soul. And as much as he hated to admit it, being trapped under the soul was still better than being dust. He'd gotten to threaten that watcher, he'd emotionally destroyed the man without touching him. And hunting with his William had allowed him to sometimes forget the misery the soul dragged along with him.
"I have a deal. You let me live, and I'll gang up with you against Angel," Xander blurted. The boy seemed to be regretting his decision to not run.
Angelus narrowed his eyes and considered Xander. "Why would you do that? You are so fond of your Angel, your great protector. Do you hope that one day he'll turn you? That he'll make you immortal?" Angelus moved closer, his voice soft and tempting for the prey as he brought his other hand up and ran a finger over the wound. He licked Xander's blood, and then watched as the boy's Adam's apple bobbed madly.
"No way. Seriously, I don't want to get that pathetically out of touch with reality. But you know I love Angel, and you said he's starving himself by not having human blood..."
Angelus interrupted by laughing as he stepped back. "You are willing to die to keep me from culling the human herd, and now you expect me to believe you will force Angel to take human life? You are more stupid than I had thought."
"Hey, I am stupid, but I'm not that stupid. There is a little thing called a human blood bank or a hospital, although those would be stealing, but for you, I'll do a little larceny. Or the suck houses. Spike said there are two in town, and you would be a big deal in the suck house."
"You want me to lay down in filth and drink the spoiled blood of vampire whores?" Angelus asked incredulously.
"I could clean a room, or we could go with the blood bank idea... but it's either you eat me and some random people now and then go back to pig blood, or you work with me. Or actually, you may not even get pig blood. You know, if you kill me, I'm almost sure that Angel is going to do the big old spiral of despair, and then you may be back to rat blood."
Angelus shivered at that memory. Being forced to crawl in sewers like an animal had made the torments of hell seem like a pleasant dream. But even now, he could feel the truth of Xander's words. The soul was already writhing in pain and howling. Angelus stretched as he reveled in Angel's agony.
"I could fuck one of the vamp whores," Angelus mused, his lips twisting in disgust. He wanted fresh blood, flesh never before bruised by vampire hands. But if he took what he wanted, the damnable soul would make him pay for far longer than his crimes merited. The abject humiliations he'd been subjected to because of one dead gypsy... they proved that justice was a ridiculous human notion. It didn't exist. And the universe was intent on making him suffer far more than he deserved.
"You could... wha?" Xander choked. "Okay, you and sex is a little like my parents and sex. Not good on the brain."
"I miss sex. The soul is so busy trying to prove he is human that he tries to be inhumanly perfect. It is torture. It's annoying torture," Angelus said as he grabbed Xander by the arm and shoved him back into the car.
"Angel's anal retentiveness is a little annoying," Xander admitted, and Angelus looked over in surprise.
"I thought you loved him." Angelus started the car and did a U-turn in the middle of the street.
"I do. But I'm not with the blind here. He has this whole dark knight, avenger, perfectionist thing going on. It's hard to be a good old-fashioned nice guy around Mr. Perfect... hard on the ego. And please tell me we're going to a suck house because I'm really hoping to not die tonight. I have parental weirdness with an overcompensating mother and a drunk father to deal with tomorrow."
"I should drain them," Angelus pointed out. The boy was clearly worth keeping alive to turn later, but even the soul had entertained thoughts of killing his parents.
"Oh no. No, there will be no killing of the parent units," Xander said firmly. Angelus looked over, and Xander flushed. "Please. I mean, not that I'm telling you what to do, but you don't need to go out of your way for me because you had fucking on the agenda," he quickly backtracked.
Angelus turned his attention back to the road. Xander needed some work, but Angelus did appreciate a submissive streak in his childer, and this one would train up nicely once he got a little older. So, tonight he got to feed and fuck, and at some point in the future, he would slip out long enough to turn his boy. He could already imagine it, his legs spread as William and Xander both knelt in front of him, their yellow eyes gazing up in worship as they fought for the right to suck his cock. He'd torture Drusilla into returning home and fuck her raw after his boys had worked him with their mouths. Angelus reached down and stroked his trapped erection. The day would come. The day would definitely come.
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