Chapter One ~ Chapter Two ~ Chapter Three

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Hunger

Written by Gia and LelaRose

 

 

 

 

Chapter One

 

 

 

 

Hunger.

 

The sharp pain that gnawed at their bellies was all that they knew. It called for warm blood and it called for flesh to fill the never-ending grinding, emptiness.

 

They yearned for the hunt. They yearned to pour out of their darkened den and search for prey to be brought to ground, prey to be ripped open. They yearned for that moment during the feed when the emptiness was filled, if only momentarily, and the terrible hunger was appeased.

 

The hunt leader growled, the sound made moist by the saliva that dribbled from his jaws. Food. Blood. Hunger. He did not rise to lead the pack from their den. The hunger must wait. The Light was still out, pouring its vicious illumination over their territory.

 

Hunger. Hunger.

 

The hunt leader rested his chin on his out-stretched paws, growling futility as the terrible hunger ate at him. As the ache grew, his growls were interspersed with soft whines. Moments ticked by and it grew stronger.

 

Unable to bear it a moment longer, the hunt leader abruptly snapped at his flank, ripping at the raw and tattered flesh of his own body. The coppery taste of blood exploded across his tongue and for a moment, that a second, a single taste was enough.

 

Growling filled his ears and the hunt leader focused his wild eyes on his hunt pack, seeing them closing in on him.

 

Hunger.

 

The hunger must be appeased.

 

He rose and sprang at the smallest of his pack, swiftly ripping open it's throat. As one beast the pack turned on their fallen brethren, their sharp teeth ripping 

open flesh in great ragged strips, plunging their snouts into the fallen one's belly to gobble down his internal organs. The fallen cried and whimpered, snapping weakly at the brethren and quickly swallowing the strips of its own flesh that fell by its maw.

 

Hunger was silenced.

 

The hunt leader withdrew to lie down. He waited, his dark eyes flashing atavistic red.

 

The others withdrew, their hunger too, momentarily sated. The fallen staggered weakly to his feet and withdrew to a quiet corner to wait. Its ribs and leg bones gleamed pink and bare in the dim light as it lay down and rested its head on its paws.

 

The hunt leader growled louder, sounds bubbling through his saliva. 

 

Hunger. The hunger was an endless gnawing ache. It needed flesh and blood.

 

His nostrils flared abruptly and the hunt leader lifted his head, tracking the scent that promised to fill the painful emptiness: a warm blood.

 

****************

They looked out at the sky from different cities. She sat on her roof the air ruffling her hair around her face. She hugged her arms around her legs leaning her head on her knees to ward of the chill of the air that floated around her. She was restless. Always restless. Her hunger so intense it was painful. Never allowing her rest.

 

In a different city not far away her mate stood on his roof. He barely noticed the cool air floating around him. His body immune to the chill. His large frame was covered in dark clothing. His form was rigid as he studied the LA skyline. He was restless. His hunger eating away at him. His hunger always ate at him. It would not allow him to rest.

 

Hunger was all they knew. For years it ate at their emotions; it ate at their sanity; it ate at their souls. They had attempted to appease the hunger with others. Their attempts had been unsuccessful. The hunger still gnawed at them clawing from inside demanding to be fed; demanding fulfillment; demanding satiation. No matter what they did how hard they tried the emptiness was never filled. Gnawing at their insides twisting them in knots. Making them want to howl from the pain of their constant hunger. Their lives one long day after day of gut wrenching never-ending hunger. Hunger for the flesh and blood of their mate. Hunger to taste and be tasted by each other. Hunger to devour and be devoured by their one true mate. Hunger that each knew only the other could sate but neither seeking out that one person who would sate their hunger.

 

Hunger. It tortured them each day, unabated, unsated. Hunger it was all they knew.

 

**************

Cordelia Chase opened her compact and smoothed her fingertip over her lips, making sure her lipstick was perfect. She was about to snap the compact closed and tuck it back in her purse when she paused to meet the eyes of her reflection.

 

"You look perfect. You are perfect."

 

She swung out of Angel's black GTX and locked the car door. She shimmied slightly to straighten her short skirt then looked in the direction of her destination.

 

The dark-haired seer hesitated as she surveyed the location. Reaching into her purse, she pulled out the audition clipping and checked the address again: 

 

876 21st Street. Yep, this was the place.

 

"What a dump," she muttered.

 

The dingy warehouse-looking building was an imposing sight amidst even the other dingy warehouse-looking buildings. The area looked rather deserted for an open audition site but perhaps the dismal area had driven away other prospective actresses, those with less nerve.

 

Maybe she should have let Wesley drive her. Well, too late now. She strode up to the warehouse door and shoved it open. The light from the outside world cut through the gloom like a knife, briefly illuminating the shadowy domicile, but the atmosphere sank back beneath its murky atmosphere as soon as the door shut behind her. Cordelia blinked, trying to accustom herself to the gloom. Where were the cameras? Hell, where were the *people?*

 

"Hello? Hello? I'm Cordelia Chase and I have an appointment for an audition."

 

The inside of the warehouse looked - if possible - worse than the outside. The dark-haired seer tucked the clipping back into her purse and took a few steps further into the shadows. Her voice echoed eerily though the gloom, as did the clicks of her high heels on the cement floor.

 

She wrinkled her nose as the foul stench of rotted meat wafted through the air to her. The shadows seemed to grow darker and more menacing with each passing moment.

 

"Forget this," she whispered, turning to walk back to the door.

 

Her path of retreat was blocked. Several dogs padded forward, their toenails clicking loudly on the floor, but they were like no dogs that she had ever seen before.

 

They were sleek and compact. The little fur that remained on their bodies was short and black. If flesh hadn't been hanging from their bodies in meaty rents, allowing pink bones beneath to glisten in the half-light, if they didn't have mouths full of sharp, jagged, broken teeth and pink frothy saliva, and if they didn't have glowing red eyes, she might have thought that they looked like Dobermans or Rottweilers.

 

When one moved closer to her, Cordelia backed away, her throat tight with fear. Oh God, she was going to die in this stinking warehouse. The dog thing growled, pulling its lips back to bare even more of its broken teeth.

 

"Nice doggie. Good doggie." Cordelia murmured softly, hoping to calm the beasts. She vaguely remembered someone saying that dogs could sense fear, but if you managed to stay calm they were less likely to attack. Not these dogs, however...

 

 

It lunged at her, leaping in a graceful arc, aiming for her throat even as the ex-May-queen screamed shrilly. Suddenly, a crossbow bolt struck the beast in the shoulder, knocking it to the floor.

 

"Forget the nice doggie crap and climb that ladder!"

 

Cordelia stared with wide eyes at the fallen beast, then at the other eight steadily approaching dogs, then up at the strange man on the catwalk above her. He aimed his crossbow and fired at the next dog.

 

"Up the ladder! Now!"

 

Turning around, Cordelia found the ladder he was talking about two feet from her. Wasting no further time, she lunged for the steel contraption and pulled herself quickly upward.

 

The other dogs lunged forward to prevent their prey from escaping. Claws and jagged teeth ripped at her calves and feet, yanking one of her three-inch heels from her foot completely. Cordelia whimpered at the pain and kept scrambling upward.

 

The gun shot explosions were deafening and the dogs fell below her. Cordelia threw herself onto the catwalk, sobs and hysterical screams ripping from her throat. She trembled as she looked down at the dogs and gasped as the two that had been struck down by the crossbow bolts slowly stood.

 

Of the remaining nine, five rose, lifting their snarling muzzles up towards her.

 

"Can you walk?"

 

She jerked, startled to find the man standing next to her prone figure. She trembled uncontrollably and turned her frightened gaze to the narrow handsome features of the man who'd just saved her life. She wondered distantly what that annoying chattering sound was, but couldn't still her shaking enough to ask.

 

He knelt next to her and gathered her gently into his arms, cradling her shoulders against his solid chest. 

 

"Easy. It's all right. You're going to be okay," he whispered soothingly, stroking her now-tangled hair back from her face. 

 

"What's your name?"

 

"C - Co - Cordelia." She swallowed.

 

"Cordelia," he repeated. "It's going to be okay. You're going to be okay. 

But we can't stay here. Not long anyway."

 

She looked over the railing at the slavering hellhounds below her. They leapt on their hind feet, barking and snarling, snapping at the air as they tried to reach her. Pink, frothy slobber splattered from their snapping jaws and she distantly wondered whether or not they were rabid as well as supernatural. After several moments of fruitless leaping and snapping, the fiends seemed to realize that their prey was out of reach.

 

The leader turned his head and snapped at the wooden bolt in his side, crumbling the shaft to splinters before turning to its fallen brethren.

 

Cordelia watched in disgust as the surviving dogs ripped into their fallen members, snarling as they gobbled at the red meat. Then, to her horror, one of the fallen four began to whine and crawl away from the vicious assault, snapping at its pack mates as it did so.

 

The ex-May-queen swallowed her nausea as she studied the corpse-like hounds.

 

"Cordelia."

 

His soft, throaty voice called her back from her impending hysteria and she looked into the calm topaz flecked hazel of his eyes.

 

"I know you're frightened, but we have to leave before nightfall. They can't conquer the ladders, but I can't say the same for the fire escapes. Those might not be such a difficult feat. Now, c'mon."

 

He pulled her to her feet, making a sharp sound of distress and staggering before he abruptly locked his legs and steadied the both of them. He tucked his shoulder under her arm and they made lurching progress across the walkway toward the windows.

 

Idly she wondered whether she had gained so much weight that a handsome young man was bogged down by her weight, then realized that they were probably so unsteady because she was only wearing one of her three-inch heels.

 

Her hero guided her across the walkway to an open window. "Climb through. 

The fire-escape is on the other side."

 

She glanced fearfully down at the dogs.

 

"Don't worry," he reassured her. "Sun's still out. They can't follow us."

 

After a moment's consideration, she nodded.

 

"Hang on just a sec."

 

Cordelia closed her eyes as her hero left her side, going back the way they had come. He returned quickly, slinging the strap of his crossbow over his shoulder.

 

"Belongs to a friend," he commented. "She'll kill me if I lose it. C'mon. Out we go."

 

They clambered out of the window awkwardly, landing on the promised fire escape. From there, they proceeded quickly down the stairs and away from the building.

 

Cordelia clutched him, wanting desperately to burst into tears.

 

"Is that your car?"

 

She nodded.

 

"Okay. You're going into shock here and you're in no condition to drive. We'll take my truck and come back for it later."

 

"B - But the dogs - "

 

"They won't step into the sunlight. If we can't get it before sundown, we'll just come back for it tomorrow. Or do you have somebody you can call? Somebody who'll listen if you tell them to pick it up right away and -this is important- to not go into the warehouse?"

 

Cordelia took a deep breath and gathered her thoughts. "Wesley and Gunn."

 

"You have a cell phone? They have keys?"

 

She opened her purse, still slung over her shoulder and held the technical gadget aloft triumphantly.

 

"Right," he murmured. "Call now."

 

She hit the speed dial and winced slightly as he pulled her arm back over his shoulder. They again made their awkward lurching progress around the side of the building to his truck. Her legs felt as if they'd been put through and meat grinder and every step burned.

 

"Angel Investigations."

 

"Gunn, it's Cordy."

 

Her hero unlocked the front passenger door of the king cab and helped her in.

 

"Hey, Cordy? How'd the audition go?"

 

"There's been an incident," she answered vaguely. "I can't explain right now, but I need you and Wesley to come down here and get Angel's car."

 

"Angel's car?" Gunn repeated uncertainly. "No. You stay right where you 

are and we'll be down to pick you up."

 

"Gunn, I'm alright. You guys just come get Angel's car. You know how he is about that thing. Come get it right now, in the bright light of day. Bring the crossbow and don't, I repeat don't go inside the building. Just get the car and get back to the office. I'll be back as soon as I can to explain everything."

 

Gunn ground his teeth together. "Girl, what the hell is going on?"

 

Just then her rescuer jerked open the back passenger door of the truck and tossed the crossbow in before pulling out a couple of other items. Shutting the door firmly, he tossed a blanket over her lap.

 

Relieved at the sudden warmth, Cordelia pulled the cover around her shoulders.

 

"The address is 876 21st Street."

 

"Actually," her dark-haired young man interrupted, "this is 876 East 21st Street."

 

"876 East 21st Street," she repeated. "Please just do it quick okay? I'll explain later."

 

As she spoke, her hero opened a bag a greenish paste and began to smear the colorful concoction over the wounds on her legs. She opened her mouth to object, but at the first touch of the cool green goo, the pain in her legs began to ease.

 

"And just where the hell are you going to be?" Gunn demanded.

 

"Me? Where am I going? I think I'm going to the hospital." She hung up before he could say another word and looked at the dark-haired young man in consternation. "You are taking me to the hospital right? That goo is not the only medical attention I'm getting, right?"

 

He grinned wryly. "Don't worry. I'll get you stitched up and antibiotic'd before I take you home." He shut the passenger door and limped around the front of the truck to slide into the driver's seat. "Wesley and Gunn, huh?"

 

"They're my coworkers. Did you get hurt back there?"

 

"I'm fine." He started the engine and put the truck in gear. "Where do you work?"

 

"A detective agency."

 

"Angel huh? And that black GTX is her car? Nice machine."

 

Cordelia rolled her eyes. "It's just a car."

 

He laughed softly and shook his head.

 

"And she is actually a he."

 

"Boyfriend?"

 

She snorted indignantly. "No way. He's way too high maintenance. If there's going to be a high maintenance person in my relationship, it's going to be me."

 

"I'll keep that in mind." He turned the steering wheel and guided the truck out of the alley and on to the street. "So, what were you doing down here anyways?"

 

Cordelia sighed. "I thought I was going to an audition for suntan lotion, 

not dog chow."

 

"And you got your directions mixed up?"

 

She rolled her eyes. God, what a typical guy. Always harping on the fact that women had a bad time with directions. "And I got my directions mixed up."

 

"And you've got friends who've got crossbows too, huh?" He grinned. "I wonder what else we've got in common."

 

Cordelia tugged the soft blanket more firmly about her shoulders and rubbed her cold hands together. His words sparked her curiosity and she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "Thank you. For saving me back there."

 

"Glad to do it. It's nice not to be the damsel."

 

"Huh?"

 

"Never mind."

 

"Well, thank you. Again. Really. You saved my life. I'd be nothing but kibbles and meaty bits, or bones or something if it weren't for you."

 

He waved her comment away, embarrassed at being thanked for just doing the right thing. Noticing that she was her still shivering, despite the heat of the day, he turned on the heater.

 

Warm air blasted across her chilled skin and Cordelia sighed as slowly, the terror of the attack seemed to fade just a little. She glanced at her hero to thank him and smiled when she saw the trickles of sweat gathering at his temples. For the first time since Doyle's death, she felt like there was a man thought that she was important. Important in a man to womankind of way, not in seer-friend-coworker way. And despite her recent track record for falling for losers, he was well groomed, with his hair neatly - and attractively - slicked back. And though he wasn't dressed in designer labels, he was admittedly good-looking in his jeans and dark T-shirt.

 

"What's your name?"

 

"Pike."

 

Cordelia stared at his handsome face for a moment. "Pike's not a name, it's a fish."

 

He burst out in surprised laughter. "I've never heard that one before," he replied in an ironic tone.

 

>>> 

 

Wesley watched from the doorway of Angel's office as the vampire dropped the telephone receiver into its cradle.

 

"Is she alright?" the ex-Watcher demanded.

 

Angel glared at the telephone. "They wouldn't give me any details about her condition. The charge nurse just said that she checked out about an hour ago."

 

"Well, she should be back soon then."

 

The dark-eyed vampire nodded. "Did you see anything strange when you guys went to get the car?"

 

"No. But then again we didn't go into the building, just as she said.

 

Considering she suggested that we bring crossbows and wanted us there during daylight, I suspect that she came across a large vampire nest."

 

Angel frowned thoughtfully, doubting that conclusion. If it had been a vampire nest, she would likely just have said so. "Maybe," he temporized. "Where's Gunn?"

 

The young black man stepped next to Wesley. "Getting a decent cup of Joe before Cordelia comes back and makes a fresh pot. Woman sure can make bad coffee."

 

Angel smiled wryly. "I wouldn't know. I don't drink it."

 

Gunn lifted his mug in a salute. "Take my word for it. Speaking of words, heard any from Cordelia?"

 

"Not yet."

 

"Hello? Hey guys, I'm back."

 

Gunn and Wesley turned to see Cordelia stepping through the Hyperion Hotel's glass doors with a slender young man at her side.

 

Angel slid past his two employees and went to meet his wounded seer. Bandages swathed her legs from her knees to her ankles and around one-foot. Angel's nostrils flared as he scented fresh blood beneath the pristine cloth as well as the astringent odor of hospital antiseptic.

 

The impractical high heels she had been wearing earlier were gone and her once fashionable attire was now filthy and torn. She walked slowly, favoring her bandaged foot.

 

The young man at her side walked as slowly as she, leaning heavily on a mahogany cane that Angel recognized as an antique swordstick. His limp was pronounced and he periodically grimaced in pain as he shifted his weight on to his right leg.

 

"This entire building is your office?" the young man was saying as they approached.

 

Cordelia grinned. "What can I say? We like space."

 

"Yeah," he chuckled. "Either that or you're compensating for something."

 

"Ah," she reproved sharply. "No Freud remarks. The man was a misogynistic pig. I'd hate to think that you advocated the teachings of a misogynistic pig. You don't, do you?"

 

Angel watched incredulously as Cordelia turned a flirtatious glance up at her limping escort.

 

"No, ma'am. I'm a big believer that misogyny is wrong."

 

Unreasonably annoyed with the flirtatious banter between the two, Angel rushed forward to take Cordelia's hand and carefully guide her to the circular settee. 

 

"What happened to you?" he demanded as he knelt in front of her. He tilted her face, examining the scrapes and bruises on her cheeks and forehead. 

 

"You didn't tell us what happened, you didn't answer your cell phone and we had no idea just how badly you were hurt."

 

Cordelia patted his hand absently. "Angel, I'm fine. You have to turn your cell phone off at the hospital, that's why I didn't answer."

 

"You still didn't check your messages and check in," he reproved, his dark eyes angry and assessing.

 

The dark-haired seer's eyes glinted temperamentally. "Hel-lo. Pot, kettle. Glass houses and stones."

 

"You knew we'd be worried," Angel scolded. "It was completely irresponsible."

 

Pike stepped closer to the bickering duo, who appeared, despite Cordelia's disavowal, to be arguing in an all-too-couple-like fashion. "Easy there big guy."

 

Angel froze and turned his attention to the slender young man that was standing next to him.

 

"After a tetanus shot, an antibiotic booster, some suturing and the beginnings of a rabies series, I don't think the lady needs you breathing down her neck."

 

Annoyed at the interference, Angel stood to tower over the young man threateningly. "Listen, Mr. Good Samaritan, we appreciate your taking her to the hospital and bringing her home, but you can leave now. We've got it from here."

 

The two men glowered at each other, Angel's taller and more muscular form easily making him the more intimidating in the showdown of wills. After a moment, Pike nodded stiffly. He didn't need this crap, he had things to take care of, and despite his growing interest the beautiful brunette, he did not have the time to fight off a 'non-boyfriend' for the right to get to know her better. Besides, demon-dogs had to come before flirtations, even if the girl in question had the most beautiful golden-brown eyes and a pair of spectacular legs. He turned to leave.

 

Cordelia put out her hand and caught his arm. "No. Pike, please stay. Angel, sit down and relax; he's a good guy. Pike here saved me from becoming undead doggie chow. So could we please stop the testosterone pissing contest, go to our neutral corners and have some introductions before we decide whether or not we like each other."

 

Angel looked down into Cordelia's determined expression then reluctantly sat down next to her. Pike hesitated, a sixth-sense telling him that he should just go and forget Cordelia and her not-boyfriend boss Angel, but against his better judgment he painfully lowered himself to her other side and stretched his leg out.

 

Cordelia stared at his leg and then the cane in dismay. "Did you have a doctor look at that?" she asked.

 

He glanced at her and smiled reassuringly. "Yeah, awhile ago. It's an old injury, don't worry about it."

 

"Are you sure you're okay?"

 

Pike nodded and forced himself to refrain from massaging his aching hip joint. "I'm fine. I just over-extended myself today. That's all."

 

"Okay, if you're sure..." Cordelia nodded dubiously. "Angel, this is Pike, Pike, Angel."

 

Wesley cleared his throat. "Did you say undead dogs?"

 

Cordelia pointed at the athletic looking black man. "That's Gunn."

 

Gunn held his coffee cup up and jerked his chin at the newcomer. "Yo."

 

Pike nodded.

 

"Excuse me," Wesley repeated forcefully. "The dogs. Undead zombie dogs?"

 

"And that's Wesley," Cordelia finished.

 

Wesley sighed in a put upon manner. "Yes, yes, nice to meet you. The dogs. Cordelia, what did they look like? Were they mastiff-like with more than one head or were they slender with longish ears, rather jackal-like."

 

Cordelia pursed her lips, thinking back to her earlier adventure. "One head, jackal-like, but not-so-long ears. Oh, and they weren't slender, they were kind of muscular, larger built, no tails and sorta meaty looking."

 

Wesley glared at the ex-May-queen in annoyance. "So basically not like the jackal dog at all. Gunn, would you mind very much fetching the Gustalk's Encyclopedia of Demonic Animals from the fourth shelf in the office?"

 

Gunn raised his brows at the request but went to fetch the requested volume without protest.

 

"Red eyes, kind of cannibalistic, impervious to crossbow bolts and bullets - "

 

"Crossbow bolts and bullets?" Gunn repeated. "Girl, just what are you packing with you when you're auditioning?"

 

Cordelia glared at him. "And Pike says they don't like sunlight."

 

"Right," the ex-Watcher mused. "Cordelia, perhaps you could - " Wesley looked up and met the simultaneous glares from the two men on either side of the young seer. " - tell me the name of that demonic database you frequent."

 

Pike chuckled softly as he rubbed his thigh. "Try www dot earthbounddemons dot com."

 

"Oh my god," Cordelia murmured. "How did you know?"

 

"It's mine. I run it."

 

Silence fell in the lobby as the members of the Angel Investigations team perused their new and growing ever-more interesting guest.

 

"How coincidental," Wesley murmured.

 

"Check under Sk'larra. S-k apostrophe l-a-r-r-a. They're not impervious to crossbow bolts or bullets. Anything that destroys their spinal cord will do the trick. Decapitation, breaking the neck, total immolation, sunlight and 80 percent damage to their brains."

 

Total silence filled the room and Pike glanced at each stunned face. 

 

"What?"

 

Angel cocked his head to the side as he studied Cordelia's rescuer. "We're not used to clients being so knowledgeable about demons or demonic phenomenon."

 

"Woah," Pike interrupted softly. "I am most definitely not a client. And I have to say, I'm not too used to running into other people that deal with this stuff either. And a detective agency, no less. Just what type of cases do you handle?"

 

Gunn crossed his arms over his chest. "So, what are you? A demonic dog catcher?"

 

"No," Pike snorted. "Just the guy who's minding the store."

 

"Minding the store..." Angel repeated softly. "That's a curious expression. Minding it for who?"

 

Pike smiled mysteriously. "You should all stay off the street at nighttime. Avoid alleys and make sure your sewer covers are in place. If you get trapped somewhere, remember that they can't climb." He stood painfully, bracing his weight hard on the cane. "I'll give you a call in a few days to give you the all-clear."

 

Without another word, he walked painfully out of the building, leaving the members of Angel Investigations staring after him bemusedly.

 

"What happened?" Cordelia wailed. "He didn't even ask me out yet."

 

Angel frowned and stood. He walked over to the windows and looked out, watching as Pike was dialing a number into his cell phone. "I think we just got blown off."

 

"New experience?" Gunn queried.

 

"Very," the vampire responded. "Who is he calling? Wesley, get me an address on our friend there. See if you can't track him by his web site. Cordelia, did he give you another name besides Pike?"

 

She shook her head, still staring at the closed glass doors. "He was so sweet. He held my hand and flirted with me the entire time at the hospital. He was comforting and really seemed like he knew what was going on. And he just left without asking me out." She glared at the vampire, "This is all your fault!"

 

Angel turned back around to stare at Cordelia's outraged expression. "How is it my fault?"

 

Gunn hid a grin behind his coffee mug. "This I gotta hear."

 

"Because of your male testosterone pissing contest! Which, by the way, he obviously took to mean that we are an *item* which we are most definitely not. You scared him off!" 

 

Angel gave Cordelia an exasperated look and dismissed her statements. "If he was that easily scared off you didn't need him anyway."

 

"Humph," Cordelia scoffed.

 

Angel gestured towards the door with his head. "Gunn follow him." 

 

"Way ahead of you on that one," Gunn responded grabbing his jacket on the way out the door.

 

* * * * *

 

Gunn had been watching the Magic shop for several hours. The darkened alley he chose as his stake out point had a great view of the shop yet he was carefully hidden from view of those entering and leaving. 

 

Not much had happened since he'd been there. A few customers had come and gone, some had lingered drinking coffee, tea or whatever. Other than that nothing out of the unusual had happened. He'd reported back to Angel a couple of times and each time Cordelia had wanted to know if any pretty women had entered the shop. He was honestly able to tell her *No.*

 

Now he was leaning against the building getting increasingly bored with his stake out duty and seriously contemplated calling it quits and heading back to the hotel. when the light blue four-door sedan pulled up and parked in front of the shop. He took out his binoculars and trained them on the new arrivals. Four individuals got out. A tall blonde, muscular guy with a stiff military walk exited the drivers side, a dark haired stockier guy with a sluggish gait, a pretty petite red head dressed in a flowing dress exited the rear and a tiny blonde exited by front passenger side of the car. Well, to Cordelia's likely disappointment, he was definitely going to have to report that two pretty, no make that beautiful women, had just entered the shop.

 

Even from the distance he could tell the blonde was a real beauty. Her long hair was pulled back into carefree ponytail. A bang covered her forehead as tendrils of hair escaped from the ponytail to curl around her neck and face. She was dressed in a pair of faded low-rise stretch jeans. The fabric hugged, in Gunn's opinion, a great ass-et. Her top was a simple spaghetti string white knit tank style that hugged and caressed her generous breast. The slight outline of her nipples could be seen through the top. The tank top barely met the waistband of her jeans showing an inviting expanse of tanned midriff. Even in the thick black-heeled boots she wore she was still tiny.

 

As they made their way to the door, the tall blonde guy put his arm around her slender shoulders. She stiffened slightly. Gunn doubted if the guy even noticed her stiffening at his touch. He watched them until they disappeared in the shop. He decided to wait and see what would happen next before contacting Angel.

 

* * * * * *

 

They walked through the door into the dim interior of the Magic Shop. The overhead jingle of the bell announced their arrival. Buffy's eyes immediately adjusted to the darkness. Just another ability of being the Slayer. She hunted in the dark so her nighttime vision was just as sharp if not sharper than her daytime vision.

 

The shop's decor was a throw back to '70's. Beaded curtains hung from the windows and doorways. Shag carpeting in an indeterminate color covered the floor. Lava lamps adorned the few tables near the back of the shop in the reading area. Incenses burned all around the shop. Folk music played softly in the background. 

 

Buffy had once asked Pike why he never redecorated the place and why he kept the shop so dark. His response was the decor and darkness added to the magical ambiance and mystique. Well she had to admit he was right - the whole '70's thing was a mystery to her.

 

'I'll be right with you," a male voice called from the back room.

 

"Wow!" Xander exclaimed sarcastically, "Now that's exciting. We really need to have a talk about this hobby of yours, Will" he said as he followed Willow.

 

"This is where your friend works and lives?" Riley asked turning his nose up in disgust as he looked around the small magic shop.

 

Before Buffy could reply Pike pushed the beaded curtains to the side and limped out.

 

"Buffy, you got here quick," he said smiling at his friend.

 

"I was on the way here as soon as I hung up the phone," she admitted walking over to give him a guarded hug. Pike hugged her back enthusiastically.

 

She pulled back guiltily hoping she hadn't hurt him. "These are my friends. This is---"

 

"Let me guess," he said interrupting her, "This is Willow," he said pointing to the pretty red head that waved at him smiling, "and this is Xander," he said pointing to the dark haired man, "and is this the guy you've been head over heels in love with---,"

 

Riley's chest puffed out. He was beaming before Pike finished his sentence.

 

"for the past two years. The guy whose leather jacket you wore for two whole summers rain or shine. You spent all day sniffing that jacket and wrapping it around you."

 

Riley's chest deflated and his smile turned to a scowl. Xander choked on a bark of laughter. Willow elbowed him in his side. 

 

Xander looked over at her innocently, "What'd I do?"

 

"Ah, Pike this is......Riley. We, um, um, we haven't been seeing......we haven't been together long."

 

Riley knew exactly who Pike was referring to. He was still smarting from the confrontation with Angel. Riley stuck out his hand, "Buffy and I haven't been seeing each other long but we're definitely serious."

 

Willow cut her eyes at Xander daring him to say anything. He smirked but keep kept his mouth shut.

 

Pike cleared his throat, "Sorry about the mistake. It's been awhile since Buffy and I talked. I'm a little out of the loop." 

 

Pike hoped his flimsy excuse worked. The truth was he hadn't missed a week talking with Buffy in the last two years. And in that whole time she never even mentioned Riley to him. He reached out to shake Riley's hand, assessing the soldier's body discreetly. Riley barely squeezed his hand before dropping it. 

 

Buffy breathed a silent sigh of relief when Pike covered her failure to mention Riley to him. It had just never really occurred to her to tell Pike about Riley. It just never seemed important. That should have told Buffy a lot about her feelings for Riley. 

 

Pike ignored the slight. "Good to meet you. Let's sit down," he said motioning to the tables. They all waited for Pike to gingerly lower himself in his chair before they took their seats.

 

"So you've seen the Sk'larra den. How many are there?" Buffy asked.

 

"Not sure. I was too busy savin' a damsel in distress to get an accurate count. I counted eight or maybe ten, but I didn't really get a chance to check. It was a large warehouse so there could have been more in other areas. Hell, for all I know there could be over two dozen of'em."

 

"What damsel in distress?" Xander asked.

 

Pike thought about the dark haired beauty. "Some woman got her directions mixed up and ended up in the wrong place. I was busy rescuing her and didn't get a good count. I took her to the hospital and then back to the hotel her boyfriend owns," Pike paused thinking, "They may be trouble. They seemed to know a lot about demons. I think they're some kinda amateur demon hunters. Unfortunately, I've seen the kind before. They rush in thinkin' a gun or a knife will kill a demon, but in the end they end up getting themselves hurt or worse killed."

 

"Do you know much about the girl or her boyfriend?" Riley asked.

 

"Not much. They operate out of this huge hotel the Hyperion. Three guys and the girl were the only ones in the office when I was there. That doesn't mean there aren't more. It's some sort of detective agency."

 

"Anything else about the girl's boyfriend?" Riley asked attempting to take over the conversation.

 

Buffy rolled her eyes. This was the reason she begged to come alone. Riley thought that he was in charge no matter where they were or what they were doing. Buffy took a deep breath and counted to ten to calm herself. 

 

"He was a big guy. Not as tall as you," Pike said watching Riley puff up at that. Pike briefly wondered what Buffy saw in him before he continued, "As I was saying he isn't as tall as you but he's big, muscular. Got the whole *don't fuck with me* attitude thing goin'. Had this really cold hard demeanor. His eyes literally froze me on the spot. Definitely not someone I'd want to mess with."

 

From his description Buffy had the impression of a burly, no neck body building type bully. She sniffed. She'd show him that muscles weren't enough.

 

"What we need to do........" Riley began.

 

"What we need to do," Buffy said cutting Riley off, "is go have a talk with these *amateur* demon hunters and warn them off, then we can deal with our hell hounds. Last thing we need is some would be demon hunters complicating an already dangerous situation. Might as well get it over with. Lead the way Pike. I think I need to have a little talk with your damsel's boyfriend."

 

"Sounds like a plan," Pike said leaning heavily on his cane he stood. "My trucks out back. Meet me around the front and follow me."

 

"I'm going to ride with Pike. We have some catching up to do. Riley you Willow and Xander can follow us."

 

Buffy didn't think she could stand another minute in Riley's company. Plus she needed to thank Pike for covering for her and she owed him an apology and explanation for never mentioning Riley.

 

"Make sure to turn the lock on the door as you leave," Pike called over his shoulder.

 

Before Riley could protest the riding arrangements Pike and Buffy were already out the door.

 

"Seems like you've been shafted Soldier Boy," Xander taunted slapping Riley on the back. 

 

"In case you haven't noticed she shafted the two of you for her friend too," Riley shot back.

 

"Yeah, but we aren't her lover," Xander replied. 

 

Riley pushed past him and slammed the door the bell jingling behind him.

 

"You know he's right she did just leave us for her friend. She didn't even think about it twice just left. Do I sound jealous," Willow asked scrunching up her face in that way Xander thought was so cute, "because I'm really not."

 

"Of course you aren't jealous," Xander assured, "and she did leave us but I'll be damned if I let Fish Boy know it bothered me," he said as he held the door for Willow to walk through.

 

* * * * *

 

Gunn watched the trio get back in the sedan. The tiny blonde wasn't with them. Pike's truck pulled out of the back of the shop and around the corner. He had to look twice before he saw her. The tiny blonde's head was barely visible over the high seat in the truck. When the truck passed, the sedan pulled away from the curb and followed.

 

Gunn started towards his truck. He'd follow them and then called Angel to let him know where they were heading. His guess was that they were most likely going to that warehouse to fight the demon dogs, although they were certainly an unlikely group to take on what sounded like some pretty ferocious beasts. 

 

He'd followed the blue sedan and truck at a safe distance and they'd led him right to the hotel. Gunn couldn't believe it. He'd didn't know what the hell was going on but he'd be damned if he missed out on it. He parked his truck and followed them into the Hyperion.

 

* * * * *

 

Buffy hesitated outside the Hotel. It was a big imposing structure. And for some unknown reason her skin was tingling and her spidey senses were running riot. Not in a *there's danger* sort of way. But another way. A way that she hadn't felt in a long time. It was disconcerting. She had an eerie feeling about this place.

 

Pike looked over and saw Buffy hesitating, a worried expression on her face. 

 

"You okay?" he asked.

 

"I'm fine," she lied. "This place is just creeping me out."

 

"Don't worry about Buffy I'll take care of her," Riley said elbowing Pike out the way and nearly knocked him over.

 

Buffy rolled her eyes and frowned as Riley grabbed her elbow to guide her in hotel. She was definitely going to think of sending him home. Hopefully even tonight.

 

Pike pushed open the double doors and walked in followed closely by Willow, Xander, then Buffy and Riley.

 

Cordelia looked up as the doors opened. A look of surprise and then delight washed over her face. She rushed around the counter to greet Pike. 

 

"Pike! You came back," her eyes bucked in surprise as she saw his companions. She stopped short. "What are you doin' with them?" she asked rudely.

 

"Cordy, I see you haven't lost your sparklin' charm," Xander quipped.

 

"Shut up Nerd boy."

 

"Well I see you all know each other," Gunn said coming through the door behind them. 

 

Buffy couldn't believe this. This could not -should not-be happening to her. The last time she checked Angel lived in a small apartment below his office building. She was temporarily rendered speechless as everyone talked around her. She could feel his presence. She knew already that he was near watching her. She glanced up. He slowly descended the stairs. Their eyes locked. Buffy didn't hear anything around her. All she could hear was the thundering of her heartbeat in her ears. She forgot to breathe. He was still so beautiful. He was dressed in his usual fashion; dark, sexy. His black jeans molded to his lean hips, muscular thighs and long legs. His navy blue pull over emphasized his broad shoulders and well-defined chest. If anything the time away from Sunnydale he had become more beautiful. More dangerous, sexy, mysterious. More irresistible. 

 

Ignoring everything and everyone around him, he continued his slow descent down the steps until he was standing in front of her. She was more beautiful now than she was the last time he saw her. His eyes settled on the cross he'd given her the first night he'd meet her in that alley in Sunnydale. He wondered why she still wore it.

 

The closer he got to her the more things penetrated his mind. He was so close close that he could feel the heat of her body, see the pulse beating in her neck, hear the rapid beat of her heart, smell that intoxicating smell of vanilla, musk and Buffy's own earthy erotic scent that he found so fascinating, so irresistible. And he smelled Riley on her. Faint but still his scent clung to her. The way only intimate contact could leave a scent. He almost growled his displeasure until he remembered it was what he had left her for. To have a normal life. To find someone to make love to her. Someone to give her picnics in the sunshine. Someone like Riley. He knew why he left. It didn't mean he had to like it. 

 

Everyone was as mesmerized by the two as they were with each other. A blind person could see the tension radiating from the two powerful beings facing each other.

 

"Bufffyy," Riley whined in her ear. "Buffy don't you hear me?" 

 

Buffy had forgotten he was standing next to her. She finally pulled her eyes away from Angel's decadent chocolate brown hypnotic gaze to look over her shoulder at her annoying boyfriend.

 

"Sorry Riley, what do you want?"

 

Riley placed a possessive arm around her shoulders. "Pike was asking you if you knew these people."

 

Buffy gave a wry smile and turned to Pike.

 

"Pike let me take a *stake* in the dark. Cordelia was your damsel in distress."

 

"Yes, she was," he said smiling at the beautiful woman that was now standing close to him.

 

"I don't know who he is," Buffy said pointing to Gunn.

 

"Hi, I'm Gunn, new to the group. Pike and I have already met. So, you're Buffy the love of Angel's life. The Slayer. I thought you'd be bigger, at least taller, but damn girl you're fine. No wonder Angel can't get you out of his mind. If you were my girl I certainly wouldn't be able to get you out my mind!"

 

Angel growled low in his throat. Gunn laughed at Angel's obvious jealousy. He gripped Buffy's hand and shook it vigorously. "Glad to meet you."

 

"Same here and I think he's done a pretty darn good job of forgettin' me," Buffy said careful not to squeeze his hand too hard. Her first impression of Gunn was that she liked him. 

 

Leaning close, Gun whispered in her ear, "Believe me, you're on his mind more than you'll ever know."

 

Buffy didn't know how to react to Gunn's statement so she chose to ignore it. She released his hand before introducing the rest of the AI Team to Pike. 

 

"We went to school with Cordelia in Sunnydale, Wesley is my ex-watcher and this," she said shrugging off Riley's arm and taking another step closer to Angel her eyes burning into his "is my cradle robbin' creature of the night ex."

 

Angel's eyes flashed and Buffy wasn't sure if it was because of the memory of the first time she'd described him that way or if he was annoyed because she was doing it again. 

 

"This is leather jacket guy!" Pike exclaimed in surprise and then paused considering her further description of him. "When you say *creature of the night* exactly what does that mean?"

 

"*Creature of the Night* as in Vampire," Cordelia explained taking Pike's arm and guiding him to the round settee.

 

"You dated a vampire?!" Pike asked in disbelief staring from Buffy to Angel as he lowered himself on the settee.

 

"I'd say she did a little bit more than *date* him," Cordelia added.

 

Pike's eyes widened with understanding, "Oh!"

 

"Excuse me," Riley forced his way into the conversation, "in case you haven't noticed I'm here. I'm Buffy's boyfriend. Her *current* boyfriend."

 

No one was sure if Riley was talking to Pike, to Angel or to everyone in the room at large. Either way, it didn't matter, as no one paid him much attention not even Buffy.

 

"Emphasis on *boy,*" Angel muttered walking toward the counter. 

 

Gunn heard Angel's mutterings and laughed loudly. Riley cut his eyes at Gunn but if Gunn even noticed it didn't bother him.

 

"Dead boy, would say it was good to see you but we both know that would be a lie," Xander quipped.

 

Angel gave him fulminating glare and ignored him.

 

"Hi, Angel," Willow waved. "It's good to see you. You really look good."

 

Angel spared a smile for the cute red head. "Hi, Willow, good to see you too. You're looking very good yourself."

 

A blush crept up Willow's cheek at the compliment, "Thank you."

 

"So how do you know Pike?" Angel asked leaning against the counter with his attention now focused on Buffy. He could tell from their body language as well as looks passing between Buffy and Pike that they had known each other for quite some time. And Angel knew for a certainty Pike was not from Sunnydale.

 

Buffy didn't answer. She just glared at Angel. 

 

Pike realized there was a lot going on. "What's goin' on here?" He whispered to Cordelia.

 

"It's called the Buffy and Angel show."

 

"Huh?" Pike asked confused.

 

Cordy let out a sigh. The last thing she wanted to talk about was Buffy and Angel's love life. She was more interested in getting to know Pike. "It's a long story. Come on, I'll tell you about it while I make you some coffee."

 

Gunn grimaced and looked at Pike. He started to warn him about Cordelia's coffee but thought better of it. He figured every man had to learn for himself.

 

Wesley decided it would be helpful if they gave Angel and Buffy a few minutes alone, "Why don't we all adjourn for tea and coffee," he offered.

 

"Tea sounds nice," Willow said instantly catching on with Wesley's intent.

 

"I'm not thirs--- ouch!" Xander didn't finish the thought. Willow pinched his arm hard then pinned him with her glare.

 

"Sounds good, Wes. Lead the way." Xander said with false cheerfulness, rubbing his arm.

 

Riley was still standing behind Buffy, determined not to move and leave her alone with Angel.

 

Buffy didn't turn when she spoke, "Riley please go with the others. Angel and I need to have a few words alone."

 

"I'm not leaving you alone with him," Riley said stubbornly. He glared at Angel. Angel only quirked his lips in a sneer before turning his back on the couple.

 

Buffy let out an audible sigh. She was so tired of Riley's *I'm the man in charge* attitude. He still refused to understand that she didn't need him to protect her. Buffy's voice when she spoke to Riley again was cold and hard leaving no room for argument. 

 

"Riley I asked you to stay in Sunnydale but you insisted on coming with me. This is one of the reasons why I didn't want you to come along. I don't need you by my side to protect me. I'm a big girl. *Super* powers no drugs needed. You promised that you'd stay out of my way. I'm asking.........no I'm telling you that I need to speak with Angel *alone. * What's your deal? Don't your trust me?"

 

"It's not that, It just that.... that," Riley stammered, faltering.

 

"It's just what Riley?" Buffy asked impatiently.

 

Riley looked at Buffy and knew this was not the time to voice his insecurities. He also knew that if he pushed Buffy was more than likely to ask, no make that demand that he go back to Sunnydale. Riley decided for now he'd humor her.

 

"Okay Buffy," he conceded, "if you need me I'll be with the others." He leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. If he could have pissed a circle around her to mark her as his he would have. He threw an angry glance at Angel before following the others.

 

Buffy released a sigh of relief before turning around to face Angel. She knew that the day would come when she'd have to be face to face with him again. She just hoped it wouldn't be when she was still so in love with him. When she still craved his touch. She only hoped that she was doing a good job of hiding her feelings.

 

Angel broke the silence. "How have you been? You look good."

 

"Fine and you."

 

Angel shrugged his large shoulders. "The same." 

 

"Nice place you have here. What happened to the other place?"

 

"An explosion," when he saw the look of confusion on Buffy's face he raised his hand to ward off her further questions, "It's a long story I'll tell you about it later."

 

Buffy shook her head accepting his decision to talk about his move later. It wasn't important anyway. His living arrangements were of no concern to her. She decided it was time to get to the point of her visit here.

 

"Let's just cut the crap Angel and save each other a little frustration. Pike and I can handle the Sk'larra demons. We don't need your help."

 

Angel nodded. He didn't agree or disagree with her. "How well do you know this Pike? How do you know that you can trust him?"

 

"Pike helped me when my first watcher Merrick died and I had to face Lythos. We've been close since then."

 

"I thought he looked familiar."

 

"Oh, I forgot. You were hangin' around during my time at Hemery High.....or should I say, lurking," she said snidely.

 

Angel didn't rise to her snide remark. "What happened to his leg? I don't remember him limping back then."

 

Angel knew something was wrong when the color drained from Buffy's face. He picked up her shallow breathing and wondered what could be making her react like this over a simple question.

 

"He had an accident one summer when I was visiting my father. His arm was broken and he sustained some spinal injuries."

 

Angel could sense she didn't want to talk about Pike's limp, so he moved on to another question "So you've kept in touch with him?" 

 

Buffy met his stare. "Yes, every summer I came to visit my father. We would do a little Slayin' and hangout. That's how we first came across our first den of Sk'larra demon dogs. Pike did some research, we bought a book on them and we found out how to destroy them. Now, he sorta minds the store." 

 

"That's why you're here with Pike? To kill these Sk'larra demon dogs?"

 

"That's it."

 

Angel looked at her stiff form. He wondered how close she and Pike were. He knew they hadn't been lovers in the physical sense because he'd been her first. He wondered about her feelings for Pike. They seemed to be very close. A closeness he once had with her. A closeness that he had chosen to walk away from.

 

Angel wanted so much to reach out and touch her. To feel the warmth of her body next to his. To have her near him without this tension and anger between them but he knew that wasn't going to happen. There was too much hurt in her eyes. Too much anger and mistrust between them so much time had passed. He didn't know how to make the hurt go away; to take the wariness out of her eyes as she looked at him; to regain the trust they once shared; to make her love him again. And even if he could, he wasn't sure if he should. He'd left her so that she could have a better life. A life that included walks in the sunshine and having children. A life that he couldn't offer her. That hadn't changed.

 

"You can go back to Sunnydale Buffy and take your friends. We can handle these dogs. There's no reason for you to stay."

 

Buffy's eyes shot fire as she angrily paced toward Angel. "Oh I forgot LA is your territory. You put me out once before didn't you?! Even slapped me to protect another woman. Seems you can give everyone sanctuary in LA. Everyone but me."

 

Angel stepped from behind the counter to confront Buffy's charges. "Are you still harping on that Buffy? Why can't you just let it go? Must everything be about you? I gave Faith my help. That's what I do Buffy. That's what I'm here for. That's just the deal. Faith was hurting and in a bad place mentally, emotionally and physically. She needed your compassion Buffy, not your anger and vengeance." 

 

"Compassion?!" Buffy spit out angrily, "Compassion!" Her eyes flashed with fire as she advanced on Angel. " You mean like the compassion she showed my friends as she terrorized them, or would that be the compassion she showed when she tried to kill my mother, the woman who went out of her way to be nice to her! Oh, Oh, I know.......the compassion she showed me when I was captured and almost killed by the Watcher Council's bounty hunters! Oh, I have a good one.... maybe it was the compassion she showed me when she violated my body by *fucking* Riley! You-wanted-me-to-show-her-compassion! Why the *hell* should I have shown her anythin'! The psycho bitch tried to destroy everything I loved! She tried to ruin my life!" 

 

Buffy laughed bitterly, "Hell who knows who else she *fucked* while in my body. Her motto was always *get some---get gone.* I'm just waiting for some man or better yet make that men, that I don't know to come tell me what a good ride I gave them." Tears formed in her eyes and she rapidly blinked trying to keep them from falling. 

 

Angel was shaken. He had no idea. "I didn't know Buffy. I just thought you were angry because she'd had sex with your soldier boy toy."

 

Buffy shook her head in disbelief. "You didn't ask Angel. Maybe at the time I was too raw emotionally to explain everythin' to you. So much was goin' on. I didn't handle the situation very well, but neither did you. You just struck out at me. Do you have any idea how it feels to get your body back and not know what has happened to it? Do you have any idea how it feels to walk down the street and have men stare at you while you wonder if it was because Faith *fucked* them while she was in your body? Do you have any idea how many showers I took tryin' to scrub my body clean? She violated me! Yes, I was angry that she *fucked* Riley, but not just because he was my boyfriend or because I was jealous. That had nothin' to do with it. Hell, I was angry because she used my body! She had no right to use my body like that! No right to give *my* body to someone! It's my body! And she violated it and my ignorant boyfriend helped her!"

 

Buffy laughed derisively, "I still can't believe he didn't know it wasn't me. The man who claims to love me *fucked* my body and didn't even realize I wasn't in it. He was lucky there was still some poison in my system and she didn't break every bone in his body." 

 

Angel started to ask her what type of poison was in her system but dismissed it. It wasn't important. What he really wanted to do was wipe the hurt and anguish away. Even as Angelus he may still have nightmares for the atrocities he committed but he remembered. He had wished more than once that he could have been kept ignorant of all his demon had done. Listening to Buffy though he realized having someone invade your body and not knowing what they had done could be much worse. He tried to touch Buffy to offer her comfort. She shied away from him. He dropped his hand to his side. 

 

"She didn't fuc--have sex with anyone but Riley," he told her.

 

"How do you know that? If you are goin' on what she told you then you'll forgive me if I choose not to believe her."

 

"It 's not based on anything Faith told me. It's based on my knowledge of your scent. When you came to LA after Faith the only scent I smelled on you was Riley's."

 

"What do you mean *scent?*"

 

"I know your scent. I know how you smelled as a virgin, after we had sex, when you are aroused, when you're menstruating and everything in between. I know your scent better than my own. Hell, I can pick you out in a crowd blindfolded. The only scent clinging to your body when you came after Faith was Riley's."

 

Buffy let that information sink in. She was a little shocked and embarrassed that he knew her *time of the month.* Mentally chastising herself for not realizing that as a vampire, of course he would know. Blood was his survival. He could track by scent and blood. Of course he knew when she was *on.* But for now she was more interested in the fact that he said he'd hadn't smelled anyone on her after the Faith episode but Riley. Her eyes locked with Angel. She saw the truth reflected in their depths. She didn't have to worry anymore. Faith hadn't turned her body into a *whore du jour.*

 

Buffy broke the stare. "Thank you," she whispered. "At least that's something." She turned her back to him to regain her composure.

 

"Buffy I can handle these demon dogs. There is no need for you and the others to stay. You can go back to Sunnydale."

 

"No you can't handle this Angel. And neither can your partners. The spell required to trap and destroy the number of Sk'larra that Pike suspects are in that warehouse would kill you. "

 

"How is it that the Spell will kill me and not you and Pike."?"

 

"Because the spell has to be done starting with a full moon, ending in sunlight and a Ring of Fire. You can handle the moonlight but the last time I checked you still had somewhat of an *allergy* to sunlight and fire. And your partners are not strong enough or agile enough to avoid the dogs until sunrise."

 

"Then I'll find another way to kill them. In case you haven't noticed your friend walks with a cane. His mobility is a little limited."

 

Buffy turned around and yelled at him. "What's with you and this macho man bullshit! I don't need your help Angel! Pike and I can handle this. We've done it before and can do it again. Without, I might add, your help."

 

The group that had been in the kitchen now appeared in the doorway. Angel and Buffy were still glaring at each other. They didn't know how much of the conversation the others had heard, and personally, neither cared.

 

"This is my city Buffy. If you stay here you get my help whether you want it or not. If not you can just leave and I'll take care of the problem."

 

"As much as I hate to break up this touchin' reunion...if you guys haven't noticed it is night and we have a den of Sk'larra demon dogs that probably want to come out to play. We might need to get out on the streets, see if we need to round up a few devil dogs and contain them," Pike said. We only have to contain them for tonight and keep them from doin' any damage. Tomorrow night we'll get our full moon."

 

"Pike is right," Cordelia, said following Pike, "there are some helpless, innocent people out there that need us. That's what we do: help the helpless and innocent."

 

Buffy and Angel glared at each other but both knew this would be an argument that would have to wait for another time. Angel moved away from Buffy, heading for the weapons chest.

 

"Does anyone need weapons?" Angel asked grabbing a Byzantine ax from the chest.

 

"No we brought our own," Riley said taking position next to Buffy. "What we do need is a plan. I say that Buffy and I will take..."

 

"Forget your plan, Riley," Angel said shrugging into his leather duster. He'd be damned if he took orders from Buffy's soldier boy toy. "We don't need it." Angel addressed his team. "Check the perimeter around the warehouse and be careful."

 

"Where are you goin'?" Cordelia asked.

 

"I'm going to check the inside of the warehouse."

 

"If you're goin' in the warehouse I'm goin' to back you up," Buffy glared at him with her hands on her hips.

 

"I can do this alone."

 

"I can either go with you or I'll follow you. Doesn't much matter."

 

Angel knew that determined look and stance. He'd seen it often during the nights he and Buffy were together. Nights spent making out as much as patrolling. He knew once she had that look and that stance there was no changing her mind.

 

'"Come on then," he relented heading for the side door. 

 

Riley's hand shot out and grabbed Buffy's arm as she moved to follow Angel. "I'll go with you."

 

"No you won't," her tone brooked no argument.

 

"Well what do you propose I do?" he asked exasperated.

 

"Help the other's patrol. Keep Willow and Xander safe," dismissing him Buffy turned to Willow.

 

"Will, if we round these dogs up and get them back in the warehouse do you think you can do a containment spell to hold them there until mornin'?"

 

Willow chewed her lower lip thoughtfully before answering. "Yeah, I think I know a spell that might work."

 

"Good. Go with Pike and get what you need from the magic shop. Meet us at the warehouse."

 

"What do you want me to do Buffster?" Xander asked.

 

"Patrol with Riley. If a fight breaks out make sure you are *fray adjacent,*" she teased lightly tapping him on his chest.

 

Xander laughed good-naturedly at the joke. "Gotcha."

 

Buffy gave Riley a peck on the cheek. "I'll talk to you later."

 

She left heading out the door behind Angel.

 

 

 

Chapter Two

 

 

The dingy warehouse-looking building was totally dark. Buffy and Angel sat in the car looking over the imposing structure. Buffy's eyes kept focusing on Angel's hands. She was always amazed that hands so large, lethal and deadly, hands that could cause so much damage, death and pain could be so tender, so gentle, loving and passionate when touching her. Or rather when they use to touch her. 

She was taken aback when she noticed he still wore his Claddagh ring with the heart point towards him. She wondered if he'd met someone else; given someone else a matching ring; if his heart now belonged to another. Surely he wouldn't wear it to remind him of the freak he left in Sunnydale. She looked away from his hands. The thought of Angel loving another was just too painful to contemplate.

 

"Are we goin' in there or are we goin' to sit in your gas guzzler all night?" she asked, her recent train of thought making her moody and irritable.

 

Angel shot her a withering look and stepped out of the car Buffy close on his heels. He strode to the warehouse Buffy running to keep up with his long legged stride. He shoved the door open and they stepped inside. The interior was bathed in darkness. Their eyes immediately adjusted to the gloomy interior. Buffy wrinkled her nose as the foul stench of urine, rotted meat, old blood and waste floated through the air. Angel led the way through the large warehouse Buffy following closely.

 

"Wonder who did the decor in this place?" Buffy quipped.

 

Angel didn't respond. Buffy shrugged her shoulders in resignation. Angel still didn't have a great sense of humor. Angel stopped and looked at a pile of rags.

 

"What's that?" She asked frowning at the stench coming from the pile of rags.

 

"They are making a place to give birth." 

 

Angel sniffed the air and crouched down leaning on the handle of his ax inspecting the bed of dirty rags closer. He stood up and continued walking.

 

"Well?" 

 

"Huh?" Angel asked distracted still scenting the air.

 

"Do you know how many dogs are here?"

 

"I'd say at least 30 possibly 35. They eat off each other's flesh so their scents are intermingling. It's makes it a little hard to narrow down an exact number. I do know that there are at least three females breeding and that's a problem. A pack protecting their offspring is more dangerous."

 

"What?!" Buffy exclaimed shocked. "Could you be wrong about the number of dogs?"

 

He scented the air again picking out the different scents.

 

"Not by much. What's wrong?"

 

"It's never been that many before! Usually it's 15 or 20. They've certainly been busy humping each other and multiplying. We can't afford to let those females have those hell pups."

 

"I told you I'll help Buffy."

 

"No it's alright. Pike and I can handle it. We're just going to have to find somewhere other than a playground jungle gym this time."

 

Angel started to argue with her but before he could there was a loud growl. He turned quickly the dog a blur of hanging flesh flying through the air straight at him. It leapt at Angel's throat knocking him backwards growling, slavering its jaws snapping viciously at Angel's neck. Angel dropped his ax and wrapped his hands around the dogs' neck as he fell backwards to the floor. 

 

Buffy was trying to help but she couldn't. Angel and the dog were rolling around on the floor and she couldn't get a good shot at the dog. The dogs growls and Angel's grunts filled the air. Buffy's head went back and forth trying to follow the movement of Angel and the dog. Finally she heard a snap and Angel shoved the dog off him. He rose to his feet grabbed his ax from where it fell on the ground and decapitated the dog. 

 

Buffy spared a glanced at the decapitated dog before turning away. "Breakin' it's neck was enough but, I guess can't be too safe with these things. You're hurt," she said inspecting the bite on his hand and touching the gash on his stomach. 

 

He looked down at the wounds, "It's not bad. I heal quickly. I'll be alright." 

 

"Give me your hand," she demanded.

 

At first she thought Angel would not comply. She glared at him until he relented. He reluctantly placed his large hand in hers. She pulled the scarf from around her neck and wrapped it around his hand and tied it securely. Angel watched lovingly as Buffy tenderly cared for his hand. The heat of her hand on his cool one was heaven. He leaned down to inhale her scent. A mixture of vanilla, sunshine, purity and Buffy. She looked up about to speak and met his eyes. She thought she saw the hunger in them; hunger that matched her own; raw, desperate, all consuming hunger. Or maybe that was just what she wanted to see in his eyes. Confused by the direction of her thoughts and the intensity she saw in his eyes she immediately released his hand and stepped back. There was an awkward silence between them for a moment. 

 

 

Buffy nervously cleared her throat, "Um, um that'll do till we can get it cleaned and bandaged properly." 

 

He looked down at his hand wrapped in a hot pink, blue and yellow multicolored scarf.

 

"Until then I'll be hard to miss," Angel joked, surprising her. He rarely joked. Yet it seemed to come so easily. She looked at him curiously, before she returned her attentions to the task at hand. 

 

"Are there any more here?"

 

"No, this one was probably left to guard the den. We need to get out there and help the others get those things back in here." They looked around the warehouse one more time before they left.

 

* * * * *

 

They hit the streets to help the others just in time. Willow, Pike and Cordelia had gone to his shop to pick up the ingredients she needed for her containment spell. Gunn, Wesley, Riley and Xander were having a hard time keeping the dogs. A frightened group of teenagers looking to do a little vandalism in the warehouse district had gotten the scare of their lives and almost lost their lives. If it wasn't for Gunn, Wesley, Riley and to his credit Xander distracting the dogs to allow the teens to escape they would have become a meal for a group of hunger Sk'larra.

 

Angel and Buffy came along as the four were trying to hold the pack at bay. Cordelia, Pike and Willow pulled up in his truck just as Angel and Buffy found the others on the streets. 

 

The dogs seemed to be attracted to Angel and Buffy's scent. Angel knew what was attracting the dogs. They were attracted to faint scent of arousal that clung to them. The dogs sniffed the air and then turned snarling and snapping at Angel and Buffy steadily advancing on them.

 

Without words their movements were in sync. They turned and ran in unison. Matching each other stride for stride the pack of dogs snapping at their heels. The gang brought up the rear trying to keep and eye out for the strays.

 

Angel and Buffy burst through the doors of the warehouse the demon dogs right behind them. They ran through the warehouse until they heard the others bolting the doors behind them. They jumped up on the catwalk without the need of the ladder scaling along the metal structure like the super natural beings they were. They jumped out the window and landed on their feet on the outside of the building.

 

Willow was standing in front of the warehouse arms raised to the sky eyes closed rapidly chanting in a long ago lost language only Angel understood. The gang stood around watching her.

 

Out of no where the group heard a snarl they all turned to the sound. Angel ran towards the hellhound leaping in the air just as the hellhound sailed in the air arching towards Angel. They met in the air in what looked like a violent ballet dance. Their upper bodies slamming against each other. In a move so quick the only person to see it was Buffy keen vision Angel's fist mashed through the hellhounds skull. They all heard a sickening crunch and then Angel pulled his hand back it was covered in the Sk'larra's pinish blood. The hellhounds brain and spinal cord in his hands. The dog fell from the air landing on his back his paws pointing straight up in the air. Angel land on the ground on his feet. The threw the hellhounds brains and spine on his lifeless body.

 

The group looked at him. Pike stared at him in awe. He'd never seen anything quite like what Angel had done before. He realized his first impression of Angel was right. He wasn't a man or vampire he wanted to mess with.

 

Angel looked at the group. "Is Willow finish with the spell?"

 

"All through," Willow said walking towards the group.

 

"Good then we can go. I've seen enough of this warehouse and those hell dogs for one day," Cordelia said shuddeering as she entwined her arm with Pike's.

 

They all started towards their cars. Riley walking next to Buffy. Now that the hellhounds had been secured he saw no reason for Buffy to remain in Angel's company.

 

***************

 

The Hyperion lobby looked like a makeshift triage unit. They were tending each other's wounds smearing on the green antiseptic paste Pike had given them from his backpack.

 

Cordelia had replaced the scarf on Angel's hand with a sterile bandage and was hastily cleansing the wound on his stomach. Her eyes kept wondering to Pike who was bandaging Gunn's arm. The only ones that hadn't sustained an injury were Willow and Xander.

 

Angel's entire body was tense. He felt like something had crawled inside his skin and was trying to get out. He could feel Angelus in the back of his mind clawing, screaming, rearing his head. 

 

Suddenly, Angel growled at Cordelia, "Don't touch me!" He pushed her hands away from him.

 

"What's your issue?" she snapped stepping away from him. "Hey, Wesley I think we might need to get the chains," she said slowly backing away from Angel.

 

"Buffy!" Angel called urgently. Buffy looked up from wrapping a bandage around Riley's hand. The burning urgency in Angel's voice told her something was wrong. She absently dropped Riley's hand without a second thought and went to Angel, kneeling in front of him.

 

"What's wrong?" she asked soothingly trying to calm him with her voice.

 

"I feel like I did when Angelus escaped the last time. I can't focus."

 

"Pike did you bring the book on the Sk'lara demons?" Buffy asked not breaking eye contact with Angel. She knew he must be having some sort of reaction from being bitten by the Sk'larra.

 

"Yeah, it's right here I don't leave home without it," he joked pulling the book out of his backpack.

 

"I need you to check on what the dogs bites do to humans and demons, particularly vampires."

 

Buffy was kneeling in front of Angel. Her hands on his thighs her face level with his groin. She watched mesmerized as a bulge appeared in his jeans. She looked up in his eyes and they were flashing between gold and brown. He was fighting to hold the demon back. His eyes bored into hers. Pure unadulterated lust and hunger radiated from their fathomless depths. His true visage appeared. Something was definitely wrong.

 

"Buffy get away from that thing!" Riley yelled running towards Buffy.

 

Buffy held up her had to ward him off. Without breaking eye contact with Angel she replied, "I'm fine Riley. Stay where you are. For the record Angel is not a thing. Never called him that again. Pike, I *really* need you to find that information fast!" 

 

"I'm lookin'," he said quickly skimming through the book. 

 

The others in the room were now watching Buffy and Angel with alarm. Wesley slipped away to go in the office and get the chains. Buffy gently smoothed her hands over the ridges on Angel's face as she watched him fight to bring the demon under control.

 

"It's goin' to be okay, Angel. I promise," she murmured her voice soft.

 

Responding to her soothing words and touch his face reverted back to his human visage.

 

"From what I'm reading there is really nothing to worry about. No one was bitten or sustained the injuries Cordelia did so a hospital visit isn't necessary. The green salve I made should handle most of our little minor scrapes."

 

"Angel was bitten. What does the bite do to vampires Pike?" Buffy asked. 

 

Pike flipped through the pages as Cordelia leaned over him her long hair brushing against his arm. "Here it is. Oh. It says that diluted the dogs saliva is used as an aphrodisiac among demons and vampires."

 

"What does the full strength saliva do to demons and vampires?" Buffy pressed. 

 

"Okay. Oh, Uh, this doesn't sound too good. The undiluted saliva can cause sexual and physical aggression, psychotic episodes and hallucinations."

 

"Great," Buffy muttered watching Angel struggle to control the demon, "just what we need - a sexually, physically aggressive, psychotic vampire who is suffering from hallucinations. Why doesn't that damn book just say *Hello Angelus, welcome back.*

 

"It also says that the effects usually wear off in a few hours," Pike offered weakly.

 

Buffy made her decision then. "I want all of you to leave now."

 

"There is no way in *hell* I'm leaving you with him when he looks like he's about to lose his mind," Riley argued.

 

"I have to agree with him on that point Buffy. I don't think it would be a good idea to leave you here alone with dead boy," Xander agreed.

 

"Look," she yelled losing her patience "I didn't ask any of you to come. Your help wasn't asked for or needed. But now that you are here you will follow my orders or you can get on the next bus or catch the next ride back to Sunnydale. I don't have time for you right now. I have bigger problems to worry about. Now I want all of you to leave. Do it NOW!!"

 

Everyone seemed to be a little stunned at Buffy's outburst especially Riley and Xander. Riley stared at her mutinously while Xander looked at her like she'd turned into a two headed-Buffy.

 

"Look, Buffy is *Slay* girl. If she says she can handle it on her own, I say we leave and let her do it. She kicked Angel/Angelus' ass to Hell before and she did it without us. If she has to do it again I'm sure she's more than capable. That's what superpowers are for," Cordelia backed Buffy.

 

Buffy wasn't sure if Cordelia was backing her because she believed in her abilities to keep the situation under control or if she wanted to spend some alone time with Pike. Buffy gave her the benefit of the doubt and figured it was most likely both reasons.

 

Riley started to argue but the heat in Buffy's eyes convinced him it would be fruitless, not to mention unwise. Plus no one else seemed to voice objections to his girlfriend spending the night with her psychotic, vampire ex-lover.

 

"I've got to get out of here," Angel growled, shoving Buffy away from him. She fell unceremoniously on her ass, as he stepped over her and stalked from the room.

 

"Where is he goin'?" Buffy asked Gunn who was closest to her. Her eyes followed Angel's exit.

 

"Most likely the roof. He likes to spend time up there," Gunn answered. "Are you sure you want to handle this alone? I mean I've never met his alter ego Angelus but I hear he's one mean, evil Son of a Bitch."

 

Buffy smiled at Gunn's description of Angelus, "Yeah he is. Don't worry I can handle him, but I can do it better if I don't have to worry about all of you."

 

"Gotcha," Gunn said.

 

"Our cellular telephone numbers are in the rolodex if you deem it will be necessary to call," Wesley informed her as he laid the chains on the counter. "These might come in handy."

 

"Thanks Wes." Buffy squeezed his hand in gratitude. He returned the gesture and walked away.

 

Buffy reached in her pockets and pulled out a set of keys. "Willow, these are the keys to my dad's condo. He's out of town for the next few weeks. You remember the security code right?"

 

"Yep," Willow said taking the keys from her hand and giving her a hug, "be careful, Buffy."

 

"I will. I can handle Angel and if he appears Angelus too. You sure that containment spell will keep the dogs in until mornin'?"

 

"Yep, It's solid." Of that Willow was confident. "but any of the returnin' ones that we didn't catch won't be able to get back in."

 

"Good. She reached around her neck, unhooked her chain and handed Willow the cross. Take this with you. Put it on my dresser I'll get it later."

 

"Okay." Willow hugged her again before stepping away.

 

"I don't like this. Angel is unstable Buffy. You might need our help," Riley insisted still reluctant to leave Buffy alone with Angel. He wasn't concerned about the possible threat of the dogs on the street, only about what Buffy might do if left alone with her ex.

 

Buffy didn't argue with Riley, "I can handle it. Good night Riley," she said firmly. "I'll see you all tomorrow. If there is a problem I know how to contact you." 

 

"Gunn, can you and Wes keep an eye on the warehouse tonight? Make sure that no one goes in. The few strays that we may have missed will probably be returning to the den in a few hours. Angel says it shouldn't be more than 2 or 3. Think you can take them out as they return back to the den. Shoot them from the safety of your truck. 'Kay?" Buffy smiled tentatively at him. 

 

"Piece of cake." Gunn raised his Crossbow as he walked towards the door. "Just call me the demonic dog killer," he teased.

 

Buffy laughed. She waited as everyone left the hotel. She took a deep breath and followed Angel's direction to the roof.

 

* * * * *

 

He was standing at the edge of the roof gazing out at the LA skyline. His back was to her as she came through the door. She loved his broad shoulders. His proud bearing. He looked beautiful in the moonlight. 

 

"You shouldn't be here Buffy."

 

"You might be right," she said slowly approaching him. "Are you still Angel?"

 

He gave a self-depreciating laugh. "For now. I feel him in the background though clawing to get loose, to come forward. You need to get some chains and tie me up Buffy."

 

"Should I fear for my life if Angelus is able to push forward?."

 

Angel was quiet for a little while, "No. Angelus would never kill you, but you might not be too pleased if you knew what he wants to do with you," he said ruefully.

 

"Well let's not go into that right now," she shuddered thinking of some of the things Angelus might want to do to her. "I'll hold off on chaining you up. I know some girls like that sorta stuff but I still haven't developed a taste for the *kink,*" she joked. 

 

Angel gave a small smile at Buffy's joke. Buffy was standing next to him. They both looked out on the LA night. They were silent for long moments. Buffy looked over and could see the different expressions crossing Angels face. She guessed she should have been afraid of Angelus coming out but she wasn't. Angelus had never been a threat to her only to those she held dear. It took her sometime but she had finally understood Angelus. Angelus wanted to kill everyone she loved so she'd only have him. So he would be the only *thing* she had in her life. Angelus wanted her to be as consumed with him as he was by her. Possessive much, but she had finally learned that was just Angelus' way. She knew that if Angelus did appear she was strong enough physically, mentally and emotionally to protect her loved ones from him.

 

"I'm sorry for striking you," he finally said.

 

"Come again?" Buffy turned to look at Angel's profile.

 

"I said I'm sorry I hit you. When you came about Faith. I need to clear one thing up. I never hit you for Faith. I hit you because Faith had just broke the news to me that you were having sex with your new boyfriend. I'm afraid I took the news badly. Your storming in a few minutes after she'd told me about your new love didn't improve my mood."

 

"So, you didn't hit me for Faith?" Buffy wanted to be sure she understood what he was telling her.

 

Angel turned to face her and closed the space between them. Buffy had to tilt her head back to look in Angel's eyes. 

 

"I hit you because I was jealous and hurt. I felt betrayed. I hadn't been gone a year and you'd already slept with two *boys.* My heart," he gave a self derisive laugh, "and ego were bruised."

 

Buffy blinked a few times as she stared into his eyes. "If you want to blame someone because I slept with two *boys* then look in the mirror. Oh, I forgot you can't see yourself," she said cuttingly. "You left me so I could fuck Angel. Then you want to get angry because I do."

 

"Let's just say I didn't think you would do *it* so quickly and I didn't think it would hurt so badly."

 

Buffy couldn't take it. Who was he to feel hurt? He left her. She was the one left hurting. Before she could think about it she bitch slapped Angel and he flew a few feet across the roof.

 

She angrily stalked over to where Angel lay sprawled. She straddled him her ass pressing into his groin, her small strong hands pushing him flat. "You were hurt?! What about me?! You-left-me!"

 

Angel looked into the angry eyes staring at him and finally realized what he'd done. The mental and emotional damage he'd caused when he left her. He reached up and wrapped his hands around her ponytail. 

 

"I left you because you deserved better than anything I could give you. I left you to give you a normal life." He brought her head down to his. "I left you because every night I was with you I wanted to make love to you, my soul be damned. You have no idea of the things I wanted to do to you!"

 

Buffy roughly shoved him away. She swung her legs from over him and stood. "Whatever! It doesn't matter why you left. You left."

 

Angel struggled to his feet. He shook his head trying to maintain control. He grabbed Buffy's elbow and swung her around. "Do you want to know what I wanted to do to you Buffy? Do you!?"

 

Buffy looked in his eyes and saw the lust and hunger reflected in them as the struggle he was waging with his demon all but consumed him. She should be chaining him up or at least getting away from him or thinking about her boyfriend Riley but none of it seemed to matter right now. He pulled her to him. She could feel the evidence of his arousal pressing into her stomach. His hands wandered up threading through her disheveled hair. He pulled her down towards his mouth.

 

"Angel this isn't goin' to solve anything. You don't want me it's just the reaction you're havin' to the bite."

 

"The bite may be lowering my inhibitions, maybe even heightening my arousal but I assure you I want you. I want to be inside you."

 

She weakly tried one last time, even as his words created a swirling warmth through her entire body. "What about the curse?"

 

"The curse is no longer an issue. I'll tell you about it later. Maybe this won't solve anything but I promise It will be pleasurable for the both of us. Right now it's all I can think about," his voice was a husky whisper as he backed her up until her back hit the wall. 

 

His long broad tongue invaded her mouth, tasting her sweetness. He'd missed kissing her. He'd missed the heat of her body against his, the sweet earthy taste of her in his mouth. Buffy moaned and squeezed her body closer to his, her arms wrapping around his neck drawing him closer. 

 

Buffy broke their kiss breathing heavily. She knew she should ask about his curse why it wasn't an issue, but with this body pressed so tightly to hers it didn't seem important just then. Her hunger for him was consuming her and all rational thought ceased to exist. Only the gnawing hunger deep within that demanded to be fed. And Angel was the only one who could feed that hunger. 

 

Denied access to the sweetness of her mouth Angel rained kisses across her face and latched on to his mark on her neck as his hands busily ran up and down her body. He was a starving man. His hunger for the feel and taste of any part of her flesh insatiable. His hunger for her as deep for her as the hell hounds hunger for warm blood and flesh. He understood the hell hounds cravings for he too craved flesh and warm blood. Hers. Only Buffy's sweet flesh and blood could satisfy his hunger. Could sate his carnal desire.

 

Buffy's hands were just as busy roaming over his back to his waist and boldly squeezing the firm taut flesh of his ass pulling him against her. A normal man's hips would have broken with the force she slammed against them. Not Angel's. With Angel she didn't have to worry about being gentle or tampering down her passion. Angel could match her passion. Angel sucked harder on her mark. He smelled the rush of wetness that seeped from her core as her arousal floated around them.

 

"Oh, Angel, I need you to be inside me. Oh........oh, baby, you feel so good, I want you," she writhed against his aroused body.

 

Angel tried to push the straps of her top off her shoulder. The thin strap broke in his large hand. He pushed the offending material away. Her breasts sprang forward. He lowered his head to take a nipple in his mouth sucking roughly. He was trying to be gentle but his need for her was too strong, too long denied.

 

Buffy moaned and threw her head back thrusting her breast further in his mouth. The feeling of his cool wet tongue and mouth covering her breast engulfed her. She couldn't get close enough to his large cool body. To feel him against her.

 

She felt his hands struggling with the button of her jeans. She knocked his hands out the way and rapidly undid her pants. Before she could completely unzip her pants he was pushing her jeans down her legs. He dropped to his knees and yanked off the boot on her left leg. He didn't even try to remove her right boot. Angel hooked her left leg over his shoulder and buried his dark head in the gossamer sheer fabric covering her core. He inhaled deeply. The scent that he would know anywhere. Vaguely he registered Riley's scent on her but it was vague and he promised himself that after tonight his scent would be the only scent clinging to her skin.

 

"Do you taste as good as you smell?" he asked huskily, "Because baby you smell like the best meal I'll ever have."

 

His long broad tongue came out and he licked her through her panties until the fabric was transparent. Buffy's moans of pleasure floated around him and increased his arousal. Her panties were drenched with as much of her moisture as he had left with the lapping of his tongue. Her soft moans and pleas were music to his ears. The scent of her arousal was like a drug. He was high on it.

 

"Please Angel. I want to feel you touch me. I want you to suck me."

 

"You taste so good baby. So damn good," he moaned against her.

 

Angel ripped her panties from her core with his teeth, separating her lips with his thumb as his thick broad tongue licked her from slit to clit and back again before it penetrated her core swirling around collecting her dew. She screamed in pleasure bucking her hips forward arching her back. Angel sucked her little stiff nub of pleasure in his mouth and firmly bit down on it. Her scream caused the pigeons to flutter out of their hiding places feathers dropping around them. Angel wasn't through. He opened his mouth wide and sucked her entire core in his mouth drinking down her pleasure as it gushed hot, tangy, sweet and musky over his tongue, down his throat.

 

Buffy' s body was warm and flush from her orgasm. Her breaths were coming in shallow gasps. Angel slowly trailed kisses from her hot core, to her lips. His tongue plunged in her mouth mating with hers. Buffy could taste herself in his kisses and it increased her arousal. She moaned in pleasure and wrapped her arms around his neck straining closer to him enveloped in his kiss. 

 

She broke the kiss and dropped to her knees in front of him unzipped his pants and pushed them past his hips. His erection stood proudly before her. It was so large, beautiful, uncircumcised. The extra skin covering the head like a hood. 

 

Her hands reached out to encircle it drawing him closer to her mouth. He was staring down at her his eyes glazed with passion. Their eyes locked as she leaned forward to rub her face back and forth in his groin area, her nose nuzzling the coarse hair, her breath warming his skin. He released another pained groan of pleasure, leaning forward and bracing his hands against the wall tilting into her mouth. She sucked the head of his dick into the hot wet cavern of her mouth. And he howled in pleasure. Buffy's head bobbed back and forth drawing his turgid flesh in and out of her mouth as her small warm hand messaged his balls. She relaxed her throat muscles. His dick hit the back of her throat and an agonized moan of pleasure escaped his lips. 

 

Buffy reached around and grabbed his firm ass noisily sucking him making wet primal sounds as his dick hit the back of her throat. When she pulled Angel's dick from her mouth, he moaned in distress. 

 

She laughed huskily, luxuriating in her sensual power over him. "Don't worry, baby, I'm not through yet," she said.

 

Her hazel eyes locked with his lust filled chocolate ones. She pulled the extra skin of his dick back and circled her tongue around the sensitive area underneath. She mixed her saliva with his pre-cum making his head wet, shiny and slick. She opened her mouth again taking his entire length down her throat again. Angel's eyes rolled back from the pleasure.

 

"Cum in my mouth, Angel. I want to taste you," she murmured around a mouth full of dick.

 

The vibration of her words caused another jolt of pleasure to ripple through him. She looked up locking her eyes with his. His dick moved in and out of the wet, slick, hot cavern of her mouth. The wet, sloppy, sucking noises she made as she sucked him tipped him over the edge. She voraciously sucked him until he hit the very back of her throat massaging his balls with her hands. He was lost. He leaned further into her bracing his hands against the rough brick of the wall grinding his dick in her mouth. With an animalistic roar, he spilled his cold dead seed into her mouth. She gulped greedily savoring the taste of the cold liquid as it spurted in her mouth, washed over her taste buds, as her tongue swirled it around in her mouth before it traveled down her throat, the taste salty, musky and earthy. She sucked him until his body stopped quivering.

 

Angel's head was pressed against the rough surface of the wall. His eyes were closed trying to gain some semblance of control. He'd just experienced the most erotic moment of his life. Though not as experienced as the other women he'd dated her hot mouth had made him lose all of his vampiric control.

 

Buffy's head was resting on Angel's thigh. His semi-limp dick lay against the side of her cheek. It was cool and wet. She leaned back raising her head off Angel's thigh. A drop of cum was still hanging from the tip of his dick. She stuck her finger out and gathered the moisture on it. She felt Angel's eyes on her and she looked up at him. She gave him a wickedly sensuous smile before her tiny pink tongue darted out to lick the drop of cum from her fingertip.

 

Angel moaned he wasn't sure if it was in pain or pleasure and neither was Buffy. Angel grabbed her by her shoulders and pulled her up. Unceremoniously ramming his tongue in her mouth mimicking what he intended to do to her with another appendage of his body. She hungrily sucked on his tongue. Whimpering with need her core dripping wet and waiting for him to fill her.

 

Angel smelled her arousal. His hand went around grabbed the firm globes of her ass as she jumped up and wrapped her strong legs around his waist. Had he been a normal man the force of her squeeze would have broken his hips. She didn't have to worry. She couldn't physically hurt Angel with her desire and ardent passion.

 

Angel felt him moving forward. Taking control. Forcing Angel to the background. Angel didn't have a chance to warn Buffy as Angelus violently and painfully took over his mind.

 

"Well well, what do we have here," he purred in her ear before viciously grabbing her hair and yanking her head back, "Angel's little whore bitch. The little whore that has been spreading her legs for any little *boy* that gives her a sweet line. You know I'm going to have to kill them don't you?"

 

Buffy gasped. Maybe she should have chained him like everyone told her to do. She wondered if she was so busy thinking with what was between her legs she forgot to use her head. Or maybe she was thinking with her heart. She didn't have time for second thoughts now. She had to figure out what to do about the demon that had just appeared. 

 

She thought about the things Angel had told her about Angelus. She made a decision then and there she could either panic or go with her instincts. She chose to go with her instincts. "Angelus, do you want me? Do you want to fuck me?" she purred seductively to him. "Do you want me to be your whore bitch?"

 

He growled as his dick hardened. He pushed the evidence of his arousal against her soft flesh. His eyes glazed over with passion. Buffy knew the look of passion. She forcefully pulled him against her body. She decided it would be much easier to fuck Angelus than spend the night fighting him or chaining him up. Plus she reasoned with herself think of all the lives she was saving my sacrificing herself to a *great fuck.*

 

"Then shut the hell up and fuck me."

 

He wasn't a demon who had to be told twice. As much as he wanted to kill and torture and give the soul more pain to brood over right now fucking Buffy seemed to be a much more pleasurable pursuit. Plus he knew how much the soul would hate knowing he'd fucked his little whore bitch. 

 

Angelus gave Buffy a lascivious smile. "Buff, you're about to get the fucking of your life," he bragged.

 

"Oh, you do like to brag on yourself" she said flipantly, "Why don't you let your actions speak for you. Or maybe that's all you are.............just talk," she taunted giving him a saccharine sweet smile.

 

Angelus growled his displeasure at her words but did just what she asked him to do. Angelus wasn't as gentle as Angel when he thrust into her hot depths. Her slick walls clamped down around his dick. He released her hair to grab her ass. He held the two globes in his large hands as he powerfully thrust into her over and over. His thrust would have shattered the hip and pubic bone of a normal woman. He looked up at his lover her head thrown back her body was arched into his. Her lips were slacks as moans of pleasure drifted to him. That was all he needed. He knew he wouldn't last long. He had to hurry and *bust a nut.* He could feel that damn soul clawing to come forward again. To claim Buffy. Angelus increased his thrusts, moving harder, faster and deeper. He reached around and pinched Buffy's clit between his forefinger and his thumb. His whore bitch screamed her pleasure for him. Her walls clamping down on his cock as he pounded into her silken channel. He made three final thrusts and he roared jetting out his cold seed to mix with her hot juices.

 

He waited for her breathing to return to normal. Angelus gave a lewd smile to his whore-bitch. Her legs were still wrapped around his waist. He ran his hand between the cleft of her ass. Yes, he was about to sample another virgin territory. He forced Buffy's legs down, untangled her arms from around his neck. He stepped away from her. She looked at him questioningly. Her movements still slumberous after her multiple orgasms. 

 

"On your knees baby facing the wall," he ordered. He expected her to balk but she followed his instructions still riding the crest of her multiple orgasms. He vaguely thought about pulling her boot and the other leg of her pants off but decided against it. He didn't want to take the time. She looked over her shoulder at him her ass wiggling. He dropped to his knees crawling the distance separating them. He knew he would hurt her but he didn't care. He'd wanted to fuck her in the ass long before she gave herself to Angel. He'd always thought Buffy had a great ass. Soft, gently rounded, the firm globes fitting in the palms of his hands. It was delectable. He didn't have time to woo her and make this pleasurable. He could feel the soul clawing coming forward. This was going to be a ram and fuck. No finesses. 

 

"I'm going to fuck you in your ass," he told her.

 

Buffy looked at him over her shoulder. His words causing her dew to flood. His hands moved over her soft firm ass separating the cheeks. He reached forward and played with the dampness of her core bringing it back to gently finger the pink rosette of her ass. He felt Buffy tense up the first time.

 

"Turn around and close your eyes," he ordered.

 

She obeyed. He tried again. He blanketed her back with his and whispered huskily in her ear, "I'm going to fuck you in your ass and it's going to feel so good. So damn good. At least for me."

 

Buffy gasped at his decadent words and wiggled her ass at him. Angelus smiled licking his mark on her neck. His fingertips slid from the drenching folds of her core to the rosette of her ass, tracing the rim of the tight little hole with his finger.

 

Buffy squirmed as his finger pressed past the tight barrier of her ass. She was tense for a few seconds before she relaxed. Angelus' other hand reached around to manipulate her clit. When he heard the soft moan escape her and her whole body relaxed against him he pressed his finger forward, sliding completely inside her. The muscles of her ass clamped down on his finger.

 

"It hurts. I don't know if I'm going to like this," Buffy whimpered.

 

"It may hurt a little the first time but hey what's a little pain. I've always found pain to be quite enjoyable. I'm going to teach you to like it too." At least he hoped he'd get a chance to teach her. 

 

Angelus didn't have time to deal with her whimpers. So she felt a little pain. There was nothing wrong with pain. Hell he even enjoyed pain. He rubbed his dick back and forth along her ass and prepared to penetrate her virgin territory. It was his last thought.

 

Angel felt himself coming forward; taking control. He was blanketing Buffy's back. He knew how he got there he knew what was happening. He refused to let his demon steal anything from Buffy that he jealously and possessively considered his.

 

He whispered gently, "He's gone, Buffy. If you want to stop and chain me up you can."

 

Buffy opened her eyes and looked slumberously at her lover. It was Angel this time. She gave him a seductive smile. Angel could smell her arousal. It was a heady perfume floating on the air.

 

Buffy didn't quite know what to do next. She was looking forward to anal sex, yet she didn't know how to relay that desire to Angel. She decided to just go for the direct approach.

 

"I don't want to chain you, Angel. I've never had anal sex before and I want you to be my first. You've been my first for all my other sexual experiences. I want to give this to you too."

 

Angel looked at her and smiled. "I'll make it good for both of us baby. I promise." 

 

He pulled back and discarded his shirt and duster. He laid the duster out, grabbing Buffy around her waist he lifted her on to the duster. Buffy's heart swelled. Angel would always be so gentle with her. He'd always see to her comfort. A man who treated her like she'd break instead of being afraid that she'd break him.

 

He came to drape behind her again. "This is going to be a tight fit baby. And it will be a little painful at first but I promise just give me a few minutes and I'll make it good for you."

 

With tenderness, she felt his lips brush across the nape of her neck, then lower moving slowly along her spine. His hands were stroking her hips as his erection nestled against her behind. When he cupped her breasts, she inhaled deeply, knowing that each moment was bringing them closer to the actual event. He toyed with her nipples, distracting her even as she began to rotate her hips against him.

 

One hand left her, returning to guide his pulsing cock to the tight rosebud of her ass. With slow measured degrees, he pushed forward. Buffy sucked in her breath at the first painful pressure. She was a little frightened, but she still wanted him to do it. She glanced back at him over her shoulder.

 

"I won't hurt you." Angel answered her unspoken question softly, "I'll be very careful."

 

Pressing forward, he slid inside her another two inches, stretching her by degrees and waited. The tightness of her virgin channel clutching him was almost painful. Buffy took another deep breath and forced herself to relax. She felt lightheaded, even as a faint spark of liquid pleasure began to seep through her veins. Holding her tight against his powerful body, Angel buried himself fully inside her. When he felt the tension ease somewhat from her body, he began to move - slowly and shallowly at first, then with increasing tempo.

 

With one hand, he reached under her and began to stroke the soft blond hair at the apex of her thighs, sliding his finger into her drenched cleft then across the taut nub of her clitoris. When she whimpered, he began to count down from a hundred, wanting to make sure she was with him when he climaxed. He wanted to make sure that it was pleasurable for her. Even as he began to count, he felt the surging presence of Angelus stirring, clamoring inside him again, raging at him for taking control.

 

He struggled, lost track and started counting again as the demon grew more insistent. He stopped moving, gritting his teeth, but Buffy, now in the throes of pleasure didn't seem to realize what was happening. She moaned, and pushed back. 

 

"Please, Angel, fuck me," Her voice was nearly a whine now as she now wanted him with a near painful urgency. "I need you."

 

Her words may have been the trigger, or it may have been the sheer clutching warmth of her around him, but Angelus pushed forward. He grinned evilly for a moment, then ground ruthlessly forward, burrowing deeper into Buffy's virgin ass. She panted. She whimpered. Tears ran down her cheeks, despite the spark of pleasure.

 

"I knew you'd be a great fuck," Angelus muttered, pumping hard. "Baby, your ass is so tight it's going to pull my dick off."

 

At his words, Buffy knew that Angelus had taken control again and felt a momentary panic. But there was nothing she could do. Angelus showed no mercy. He fucked her with straight, strong thrusts, increasing his pace. Buffy moaned at the brutal strokes, even as her body responded.

 

How much of her arousal was due to physical stimulation, how much to pain, or how much simply to being with Angel, er, Angelus, again, she didn't know. But she bobbed against him, taking his hard, thick cock easier with each stroke.

 

"You love it, don't you, whore bitch," Angelus' voice was husky, yet he felt his soul angrily wanting control. 

 

As the threat of orgasm rose, Angelus felt his own hold receding. He slapped Buffy hard on the thigh. 

 

"Tell me," His voice was a hiss, "Tell me you love it! Tell me to fuck you hard!"

 

"Yes, I love it." Buffy panted, "Fuck me, haaardd!"

 

Angelus rocked her with the force of his thrusts, his brutal sodomistic fucking and she came, quivering and jerking. His cock twitched inside her, the feel of her rippling grip around him unbearable, and he spurted his cool semen into her. As his orgasm ebbed, so did Angelus. Angel kissed her shoulders, her nape gently, his hands caressing her sides and back. He was dismayed as he withdrew from Buffy, his thoughts in turmoil.

 

"Oh, Angel," Buffy sighed, then snuggled her back against him as he lay behind her. "Angel?"

 

Her eyes flew open in question, now wondering if her assumption as to who she was with had been correct. She had sensed the change in his mood, his gentleness.

 

"Are you okay?" Angel's hand tentatively stroked her arm.

 

"Okay? Hmmm," Buffy turned then, her hand running up his arm to stop at his shoulder then slid down his chest where she explored the cool flesh with her fingertips distractedly. 

 

She inched closer. "Yes, baby, I'm better than okay. You?"

 

"I'm good."

 

Angel looked at her, his thoughts again on how rare and special his feelings for her were, how precious. 

 

He echoed her words, "Better than good, actually."

 

Grabbing her torn shirt she shook the pigeon feathers from it then cleaned them both up and tossed the shirt aside before returning to her position, snuggled against his chest. 

 

"Was it okay for you?" Buffy looked at him somewhat shyly under her lashes, curious. She knew he remembered things as Angelus, but she wasn't sure how clearly.

 

"Baby, it was amazing. You're fantastic."

 

Buffy's smile was radiant. She glowed from the praise. Angel kissed her then, unable to resist. Buffy returned his kiss eagerly, having spent too many years without them, without him.

 

She melted against him, kissing him as the musky scent of sex and the faintest fragrance of vanilla filled his head. How often had he thought he would never have this again?

 

She pulled away from his kiss to catch her breath. She nuzzled his neck. That's when she saw it. The silver chain around his neck with her Claddagh ring hanging from it. 

 

"Where did you get this from," she asked lightly tracing her fingers across the ring.

 

"I found it on the floor of the mansion not far from where I landed when I came back from Hell. I kept it to remind me of you."

 

Buffy didn't know if he kept it to remind him of the good memories they shared or the bad memories and she was too much of a coward to ask so she didn't. Instead she leaned into him and devoured his mouth. Her tongue mingling with his tasting herself in his kisses. She sucked greedily on his tongue as she pressed her aroused body into his. He ran his hand through her golden hair letting the silken strands fall through his fingers. Releasing her mouth, he lifted her slightly to access her breasts. He cupped one gently in his hand as she thrust forward, then dipped his head to taste the dusky pink nipple. He had to fight the urge to suck too hard on the tempting, erect bud, afraid that his aggression would once again allow Angelus to seize control. Even now, he could feel him taunting him, reminding him that it had been he - Angelus - that had come in Buffy's ass.

 

Buffy rubbed her thigh against the growing hardness of Angel's erection, scarcely daring to believe that she was hungry for him again. With his hot demanding mouth on her, his powerful arms now encircling her and pressing her against his hard length, Buffy gave herself up to sensation, to pleasure. Only with Angel could she let down her guard and truly be herself.

 

As he rolled her onto her back, Angel once more lost control to Angelus, the combination of the demon dog's saliva with his own lust for Buffy a potent and intoxicating combination. His mouth returned to hers, out of control, plundering and barbaric. Buffy had no choice but to yield to the onslaught, pressed hard between the roof beneath her and the large body now lying over her.

 

"You're one hot little pussy, aren't you, Buff?"

 

Buffy met the glittering gold of his eyes when they ceased the leisurely survey of her body to return to her face. 

 

"And that makes you what, a dickhead?" she asked flipantly. Perhaps against her better judgment she taunted him.

 

"That's the one thing I never understood, why Angel let you get away with that smart ass mouth," he informed her. Angelus decided to ignore her jib more interested in fucking than fighting with Buffy. 

 

He squeezed her breast hard, then lowered his mouth to suck hard at each pointed nipple. Buffy gasped when she felt his fangs brush the sensitive flesh and he lifted his head and looked at her with a cold expression. He traced a path down her body with bites, leaving faint marks from his fangs. She met his eyes when he knelt between her thighs and he smiled up at her, a feral smile. He imprisoned her thighs tightly in each hand, then pressed her legs back toward her chest and spread them wide. She gasped in surprise, yet felt the surge of heat, the damp wetness between her legs increasing. He could feel her heartbeat, the pulse of her blood flowing through her veins, the rising heat of her body. His mouth closed hungrily over her sex, the place he seemed to crave with an inconceivable appetite.

 

He ate at her delicate flesh, sucking her clit hard and scraping it with his fangs even as the soul raged within him, struggling for control. He wrung three screaming orgasms from her, Buffy becoming more sensitive, her clit more painful with each one, before he slid up her body and shoved his cock hard up her wet channel. She bucked in surprise and pushed against him, unsure if her over sensitized flesh could take any more. He ignored her futile protest and drove forward hard. His eyes filled with heat as took in the wet silken curls covering her mound. Wet from his previous ministrations and her own juices. He watched his long marble cock disapper into the glistening pink folds of her sheath. He growled in pleasure as it came out covered in her dew, slick, wet and shiny. He thrust in again marveling as his whore bitch's sheath clamped down on his cock at each thrust. He lowered his head to lick at the mark on her neck.

 

His powerful hands held her beneath him as he stroked in and out ruthlessly, his taste for blood becoming stronger and more acute with each passing moment. The pulsing of her vein beneath his tongue teased him and he snarled. When he sank his fangs into her throat, Angel surged forward and seized control. Despite his wishes to the contrary, the delicious elixir of her blood was irresistible. He drank hungrily.

 

He continued to move, stoking deeply in and out to the pulsing rhythm of her blood. Beneath him, Buffy wrapped her arms around him and heatedly demanded more. The combined sensation of his cock buried deep inside the hot wet depths of her silken sheath and the sucking pressure on her neck jolted her to yet another orgasm. His tongue ran across the wound in her neck, to her ear. 

 

He whispered huskily, "Stay with me baby . . . You're so hot . . . so tight."

 

Buffy clung to him, letting him take her higher and he plunged harder, deeper. She submitted to him body and soul, letting him take what he needed from her. Allowing him to sate his hunger as he'd sated hers. Pleasure overwhelmed all else that night, as Angel - at turns Angelus - driven by the insatiable hunger for her, took her again and again. Buffy, her own hunger for him at a near fever pitch, responded with her own heated demands. Together they soared, until triumphantly, the world shattered around them into a million fragments and left them floating on a sea of bliss.

 

"Angel, I love you." Her voice a soft whisper, she held on to him tightly, as if she never wanted to be parted from him. She was limp, languid and drowsy in his arms. He'd filled the hunger she had felt inside her these last years, physically, mentally, emotionally. How would she live without him again? How would she ever sate her hunger without him?

 

Angel held her tightly, then rolled until she lay on top of him. Her cheek was pressed against his chest, her hair covering them in a golden fall. Her small hand cupping her Claddagh ring. Her words struck him with fear, he couldn't let her love him again, could he? But then again how could he not. Buffy was the only one that had ever been able to sate the hunger that burned and gnawed in not only him but Angelus too. 

 

They both drifted to sleep with these thoughts playing through their mind.

 

* * * * * *

 

Buffy came awake slowly. She heard cooing and realized pigeons were flapping overhead in one of the grates in the wall. She felt the cool firm muscled body beneath her. She'd fallen into an exhausted sleep on top on him maybe two hours ago. She was surrounded by his scent. His large leather duster covered her. It shielded her from the cool breeze blowing across the roof. She rolled off Angel or Angelus unsure who would wake up beside her and grimaced. She was sore between her legs and her ass. They had really gone at it last night. Still for the first time in years she felt sated. The hunger that was usually ever present each morning gnawing at her belly wasn't there.

 

"Are you okay, Buffy?" 

 

She hadn't known that he was awake. He groaned sitting up. His eyes hungrily raked her body. He smiled thinking of all the things they indulged in last night. His body hummed from their night of lovemaking. Her scent floated to him and he loved his smell clinging to her. There was no longer any trace of Riley on her nor would there be again. He intended to make sure of that. The hunger that usually greeted him each day was no longer present. He was content. Sated.

 

"Well, it's, um, um, well, I should get going." Buffy stammered reaching around for her clothes. She jumped up and hastily gathered her clothes. Her panties were hopelessly ruined she tossed them aside and pulled on her pants. She pulled on her boots and looked for her top. It was as hopeless as her thong. 

 

Angel handed her his shirt. "You can wear this."

 

"Thank you," she mumbled grabbing the garment from his hands and avoiding his eyes. She shrugged into the garment rolling up the sleeves. The shirt fell past her knees and dwarfed her tiny body.

 

Angel didn't like this. Buffy hadn't looked at him. He thought about the night they'd just spent together. He wondered if he should apologize for his and Angelus' vigorous love making but damn it he'd told her to chain him. She had chosen not to. And he knew she'd gotten as much pleasure from last night as he had.

 

"Buffy maybe we need to talk," Standing and pulling on his pants, he tossed his jacket over his arm.

 

"There's no need Angel. This wasn't your fault. No need to feel guilty or brood. I chose to stay here and I chose not to chain you up. Let's leave it at that."

 

"Buffy that's not what I want to talk about. We should really talk about….."

 

She avoided the talk. "Maybe later Angel. I really need to get home. Riley and the others will be worried." 

 

Angel growled low in his throat at her mention of Riley. Angel knew that she wasn't in the mood to talk and nothing he could do could force her to talk with him. He'd bide his time for now.

 

"Wait," he called as she reached the door.

 

He rummaged through his pockets and pulled out the keys to his car. "Take my car."

 

She looked at him in stunned surprise for a moment. He knew she was a terrible driver and she'd also heard the others joking about how he loved his car. But then he had let Cordelia drive it. She snatched the keys out of his hand.

 

"I'll bring it back, later today," she promised 

 

In a blur of blue jeans and too big shirt she was gone. Angel let out a audible sigh. She'd spent the night making love to him yet jumped up and ran away like it was the biggest mistake of her life. He moved towards the stairs. He thought last night meant something to her. She told him she loved him. Yes, he knew it had been in the heat of passion but still she'd said it. Yet in the gray light of the approaching dawn she bolted from him obviously forgetting her avowal. She acted like she couldn't stand to be in his presence a moment longer. He sighed. He was definitely going to talk with her when she brought his car back.

 

Buffy didn't see the lone figure with his binoculars trained on her as she ran out the door of the Hyperion. He took in the disheveled hair, the bite mark on her neck and the fact that she was obviously wearing Angel's shirt. The same shirt Angel himself had worn last night. He looked up at the imposing hotel and thought about going in to stake the lone vampire occupant, but he knew he wouldn't stand a chance. He wasn't about to lose the woman he loved to a monster. Riley turned on his heels and walked away. He had to beat Buffy back to her father's condo. He couldn't have her wondering what he had been doing tonight.

 

* * * * *

Buffy shut the door as quietly as possible and tipped toed through in her father's condo. Dawn was just breaking over the sky as she came through the door. She checked in the guestroom first. Willow and Xander were asleep at different ends of the bed. She smiled at how innocent they looked lying in bed together. She closed the door and went to her bedroom. Riley laid in the middle of the bed. She was annoyed. She knew that after last night and this morning's *fuck fest* with Angel/Angelus she was not going to lay next to Riley. She quietly shut the door. She would sleep in her father's room. She missed Riley sitting up fully clothed angrily glaring at her. He'd only made it back in the condo a few minutes before she did.

 

She looked at the clock in her father's room. She needed sleep. Something she had gotten very little of last night. She would have to face the Sk'larra demons tonight she knew she'd need her energy. She knew she'd probably sleep to well past noon. Buffy laid in her father's bed. She slipped off her pants but kept Angel's shirt on. She wanted to keep him close to her. She could still taste Angel in her mouth and smell him everywhere on her. His dark spicy, erotic scent clung to her body. The smell was soothing, comforting. It chased away the hunger. She wrapped her arms around herself, snuggled beneath the covers and for the first time in over a year fell into a restful sleep.

*********

 

The water cascaded over her skin washing away a surplus of body fluids; hers and his, but his scent still clung to her. She inhaled deeply hoping the scent never washed away. A few feathers floated in the water puddling at her feet as she washed her hair.

 

She scrubbed herself in the hot water, her mind replaying the night's events as her hands wandered down her body. Her soapy hands on her breasts brought back memories of his hands on her, his lips, his tongue, she sighed and closed her eyes, the warm swirling heat stirring her memory. Tentatively she touched the sore and swollen lips between her legs and the puckered rosette of her ass. Even with her Slayer healing ability, there was no doubt she'd be sore for a couple of days. Still, she felt the ache of hunger again, her desire for him sharp and acute. If anything, last night had shown her that she wanted him still. That only he could appease the hunger that constanly gnawed at her. That she loved him with all of the innocence of her youth, but now with the passion of a woman. They were perfectly matched, or so she thought.

 

Riley's knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. 

 

"What?" She yelled over the sound of the rushing water, pulling aside the curtain.

 

Riley opened the door and peered in. 

 

"Can I join you?" He smiled and started in the room.

 

"Uh, um, I'm actually finished. Pruney even." 

 

Buffy yanked the towel off the rack and shut off the water. 

 

"Just one sec and I'll be out of your way." 

 

She wrapped the towel around her behind the curtain, careful to conceal the few love bites on her breasts, stomach and between her thighs and using her hair to cover her neck.

 

"I was actually hoping you'd be in my way," he said using what he thought was his seductive voice.

 

Buffy shuddered. There was just no way she could let Riley touch her after spending the night with Angel. He closed the door and stood in front of her, feeling a possessive need to somehow lay claim to her, to mark her as his.

 

"Uh, I've got things to do. Later, okay."

 

With a quick peck on the cheek, Buffy pushed past Riley and out the door. Before he even knew what was happening she was gone.

 

As Buffy dressed, her thoughts once again drifted to Angel. While there was no doubt in her mind that last night would be replayed over and over in her memory - as one of her better memories - she was disappointed in herself, that she had used his weakness in fighting off the bite of the Sk'larra as an excuse to have sex with him again. He'd asked her to chain him up, but she refused. It had just been so long and she had missed him so much. Buffy chastised herself for her own weakness. Angel didn't want her; he'd made that clear more than once. Undoubtedly, her behavior and actions of the night had confirmed his opinion that she was a freak, just because she didn't hurt him physically didn't mean that his opinion would have changed. And the fact that she had begged Angelus to fuck her. She sighed. What would he think of her now?

 

* * * * * *

 

Buffy drove Angel's car back to the hotel, Willow riding with her, Riley and Xander following behind in Riley's sedan. She had left a message on Pike's cell phone earlier, since no one had heard from him after they left the hotel last night. Buffy was worried, but knew that Pike had an uncanny ability to take care of himself.

 

When they arrived at the hotel, Pike was drinking coffee with Cordelia, the two of them appearing rather intimate as they laughed at some joke.

 

"Buffy. You're back."

 

Cordelia didn't move her hand from Pike's arm when she looked up and spoke. She wanted Buffy to know that Pike was interested in her, and she felt a curious sense of possessiveness with him. Angel had been down earlier, but had refused his usual breakfast, muttering something about being full. Only Wesley seemed to think anything unusual about that statement and had looked at Angel sharply. Angel refused to meet his eyes. Wes had also put away the chains this morning when he had arrived, noting that they seemed to be exactly where he had put them last night.

 

"Hey." 

 

Pike greeted her and the others, just as Angel came down the stairs. He had sensed Buffy's presence and was anxious to see her. He stopped short at the sight of Riley right behind her.

 

"Thanks, uh, for letting me borrow your car. It's back - and in one piece."

 

Buffy tossed him the keys, unwilling to get too close. If she could touch him, she might and that could only lead to bad things. She licked her lips, her eyes moving over him as unwanted memories of the taste of him, the feel of his hard body pressed tightly to hers flashed through her mind.

 

Angel caught the keys in his left hand and shoved them in his pants pocket. He stared at her, his own thoughts indecisive. He wanted to yank her away from Riley's side, he wanted to take her in his arms, he wanted to take her to his bed. He shook off the thought but not before Buffy noticed the slight ridge of his erection. Was he too, thinking about last night?

 

"Buffy, we need to talk," Angel glanced over her shoulder at Riley, noting that the younger boy with bristling at his words, "privately."

 

"I don't think so." Buffy was afraid of what Angel would say to her, unwilling to risk a reminder that he didn't love her, didn't want her. She already knew those things just as she already knew what kind of freak she was.

 

Angel stared at her in surprise, her blunt refusal not what he expected. But then, things with Buffy had never been particularly easy. Maybe he did owe her an apology for last night, but if she wouldn't speak to him, how could he apologize?

 

Xander cleared his throat loudly. "Okay then, again with the tension..."

 

"We're glad to see you both survived the night," Cordelia said.

 

Cordelia looked from Buffy to Angel, then back again. She could see the fatigue in their faces, the pale blue shadows under Buffy's eyes, the tired droop of Angel's shoulders. But she also detected something else, something she couldn't quite put her finger on. And with Angel wanting to talk to her privately.

 

"What happened?" So, in true Cordelia fashion, she simply asked. "You know, last night. What did you guys do?"

 

"Nothing."

 

"None of your business." 

 

Buffy and Angel answered at the same time, their voices in unison.

 

With his answer, Buffy jumped to conclusions. So it was true he really hadn't wanted her, it was just the reaction to the bite and she happened to be the one there to satisfy his lust. With effort, she fought for control of her emotions. She'd been hurt before and she'd survived. She'd survive this as well. She took a deep breath and stiffened her spine.

 

Angel watched her, noting the play of emotions on her face then the determined resolve. He too, jumped to his own conclusions: she apparently regretted last night, and she hadn't really meant what she said to him.

 

"Really?" Cordelia's tone was sarcastic as she looked at him. "You guys didn't....uh, you know?"

 

"No, we didn't.......you know."

 

Buffy met Angel's eyes, daring him to contradict her. She'd just pretend that Cordelia's *you know* was eat ice cream or pizza or something, then she wasn't really lying. He only shrugged.

 

"So, uh, Pike. It's the full moon tonight. We need to get prepared."

 

Buffy turned to Pike, wanting an end to the uncomfortable eyes watching them closely, wanting to leave the Hyperion and not come back.

 

"I'm ready. We've got to pick up a few things at the shop, but we're good to go."

 

Pike studied Buffy's tight expression and drew his own conclusions. He watched Angel too, taking note of the fact that when her head was turned Angel watched her like a lovesick schoolboy. He also picked up the fact that Angel had a faint bite mark just under his ear, a perfect oval of teeth marks and darkened skin. It was mostly hidden by his collar, but there just the same, and Pike didn't recall seeing that yesterday.

 

"Great. So, where?" Buffy crossed her arms over her chest, struggling to retain her composure. She wanted so much to wrap her arms around Angel and keep him for herself.

 

"Let me show you the location where I think we can do the ritual. It's not far from the warehouse the dogs are being held in. It's an abandoned building. It's about two stories. It's just the bare steel bones of a structure that was never finished. Should do the trick once in the circle you can climb to the top and be relatively safe from the dogs."

 

"Sounds like a winner Pike. Let's check it out."

 

When Pike struggled to his feet, Buffy looked away uncomfortably. Angel, observing Buffy intently, noticed the change in her demeanor immediately.

 

Unhappy with Buffy's obvious dismissal of last night as well as her refusal to speak with him privately, Angel growled and glowered the rest of the day. When he spoke, his words were terse and short. Even Gunn looked at him warily, wondering if Angelus weren't really the one in the room with them. Riley's presence only added to his annoyance.

 

Buffy shut down any and all attempts from the AI team to help with the ritual tonight. Angel argued with her, but Buffy held her ground. Finally, he relented, but he didn't like it. And if he could figure out a way to help her, he would.

 

Riley had also argued with Buffy that he should be the one to go with her, to serve as the *bait*. She shut him down quickly when she asked him if he knew how to perform the ritual.

 

"Then you can't help me. You'll only get in the way."

 

"Pike and I have done this before, successfully I might add. We know what we're doing and we won't get hurt. We'll start the ritual tonight and be back after dawn tomorrow. Any questions?" 

 

Buffy glanced around at their faces, her tone brooking no argument. 

 

"Good. It's settled."

 

 

 

 

Chapter Three

 

 

They had agreed that the others would wait at the Hyperion. It was a good central location should they need help, and having everyone in one place would make it easier. Riley and Xander grumbled, but agreed. After spending the day with them, Gunn was none-too-happy to have the two guys around either, but consoled himself with the fact that by tomorrow they'd be back in Sunnydale. 

Riley didn't tell anyone that he had planted a bug in Pike's truck. He didn't trust the guy despite the fact that Buffy had apparently known him for years and had spent time with him each and every summer she had stayed with her father. He also didn't like the fact that Buffy was going off with the guy for hours on end, when he wouldn't be there, so this seemed the next best thing. The Initiative had certainly given him the skills and the technology, it only made sense to use them.

 

He'd asked Cordelia if there was a private room where he could set up some equipment to assist Buffy. He didn't bother to tell her Buffy didn't know about this. She led him to a room almost directly under the stairs and left him. Riley hadn't noticed that Xander had followed them. When Cordelia left the room he went about setting up his equipment. He was so engrossed in what he was doing he didn't hear Xander open watching him curiously as he set up the radio.

 

Gunn noticed Xander sneaking around near the room under the stairs and decided to investigate and it became a domino effect. Next was Wesley, then Cordelia had to go see why everyone was going in the room with Riley when she knew no one even like the guy and of course Willow thinking everyone must have decided to meet in a new place followed the voices.

 

Riley had just turned on the radio and was tuning the noise frequency when Cordelia came back into the room, behind Gunn and Wes,

 

"What is he doin'?" Xander asked Cordelia.

 

"He said it was somethin' to help Buffy and Pike. Although, I don't like the idea of Pike out there with Buffy. She'll get him hurt." Cordelia was still grousing, unhappy that Pike had gone so easily, so trustingly with Buffy. "Why didn't you go instead?" She looked at Xander in exasperation, seeing him as the most expendable member of the team.

 

"I volunteered to replace cripple guy. Buffy turned me down flat," Xander said jealousy creeping in his voce.

 

"Only because she didn't want you to get hurt," Willow said trying to soothe his feelings of jealousy.

 

They turned their eyes to the sounds now coming from Riley's radio. At first all they heard was static then voices came across clearly. It was only a moment before they realized that it was Buffy that was speaking.

 

Cordelia looked up at Riley in startled surprise, then at the radio then back at his face. He gave her a guilty look. She looked at him in surprise finally realizing what he was up to. 

 

"If she knew you were doing this she'd probably kick your ass, Cordelia said.

 

"Well, we'll just have to keep it a secret won't we?" Riley replied turning up the volume of the radio.

 

Angel walked in the front office. He still wasn't pleased that Buffy had gone off to deal with these demon dogs with only Pike for backup, but he had agreed to let her handle it, so he would. When he didn't see anyone he followed the noise and voices to the room below the stairs. It only took him a minute to realized what they were doing. He became angry. 

 

"What the hell are you doing, Riley? You have no right to invade Buffy's privacy like this."

 

"Chill, Angel. He just wants to make sure they're safe since they had to change their plans and use that old construction site instead of the play ground they used before. We're only listening so if they need help we'll know and be able to get to them quickly," Cordelia reasoned attempting to calm down Angel. She would be damned if she missed this opportunity to find out what Pike would say about her.

 

Angel thought about protesting further but he realized no one else saw anything wrong in listening to Riley's little bug. Plus he reasoned he was worried about her. He didn't want to listen. Knew that listening to their conversation was wrong, that it was a violation of trust, of privacy - but against his better judgment, his interest was peaked just the same. 

 

At first all they heard was static then Buffy's and Pike's voices came through the speaker clearly.

 

"Mobility's gotten better."

 

*Angel could tell her tone was strained.*

 

"Yeah. Doctors didn't think I'd ever get out of that damn wheelchair. They were sure that beneath the broken bones my spine was damaged."

 

"And the arm?" Buffy asked

 

"Bones knitted fine. Joint's at 90 percent."

 

"Is -?"

 

"That's as good as it'll ever get." There was resignation in his voice. Acceptance of his fate.

 

"Does the cane help?"

 

Yeah, it does. Plus it's cool. A cane with a sword inside. Comes in handy too. I know it was very expensive. I wished you hadn't sold those diamond earrings your father gave you to buy it. I know how important they were to you."

 

"No, biggie. I was able to buy the book on the Sk'larra demons and your cane. Those were more important than my vanity. I think it was a good deal. Besides I didn't have many places to wear diamond earrings anyway. And killing demons and vampires isn't exactly a diamond occasion.

 

"You have a point," Pike laughed.

 

"I never told you how sorry I was. But then, sorry just seemed like such a worthless thing to say...It won't make you better, and it won't take it back. Sorry just seemed like it was for my benefit. To ask your forgiveness when I didn't deserve it. That's why I never asked." she admitted.

 

"It wasn't really your fault. We were both under the influence of that bitch succubus."

 

"We were headed there anyways, Pike. I faced death every night and...I liked you."

 

"But you didn't love me?"

 

*Cordelia held her breath, as did Riley. Even Angel felt himself waiting for Buffy's answer.*

 

"No, I'm sorry. I didn't, but I mighta got there, if the spell hadn't rushed us through to the end. It would've ended the same way. I would've.... crippled you or worse while we were - you know. And we both would've known just how much of a freak I was," she said miserably.

 

"I never meant that Buffy. I was in pain ---,"

 

"No. You always said that I wasn't like other girls. And you were right. My metabolism is 4 or 5 times that of a normal person. If I'm not eating like a pig, I'm sucking down protein shakes and bars to maintain my energy levels, and too embarrassed to let my Mom and my friends know. Angel is probably the only person who knows how much I really eat. How much food it takes to maintain my energy level. After a night of slayin' we would usually go back to his place and he'd cook for me. For a guy on a liquid diet he's a great cook. It used to give him so much pleasure to see me eat everything he cooked. I have never been comfortable with anyone else knowing about how much I eat but Angel. And now you. Did you know that I had to practice picking up glassware so I didn't accidentally break things when I grabbed them in a hurry? And I have to be so careful not to hurt people when I embrace hug them. I really am a freak."

 

*Angel's heart broke when he heard the despair in her voice. Now everyone knew why she looked so guiltily when she watchedat Pike so guiltily. And as much as Angel hated what happened to Pike he was glad they never consummated their relationship. Glad that she had saved herself for him.*

 

*"She could have told me," Willow said hurt lacing her voice. "I wouldn't have cared how much she eats. Xander eats like a pig and doesn't even have a good reason. She had nothing to be ashamed about. If anyone is a freak for eating too much its Xander."

 

*"Why thanks for all the love, Will," Xander said sarcastically.*

 

Pike's voice came over the speaker.

 

"No, you are not a freak...I was angry and scared that night. And jealous. Jealous that I loved a girl that was 10 times stronger than me. Jealous of your strength; of your gift. I've always been jealous that when were together I was the *damsel in distress.*" After a few seconds, he added softly, "I'm really sorry I said that, you know."

 

"I know. You don't have to keep apologizing. And I'm sorry I couldn't love you. You deserved it." Her voice was a bare whisper of anguish.

 

"Don't go more *guilt trip* on me than you already are. I should have told you I loved you, but I was trying to be cool waiting on you to tell me first. Which you didn't." He laughed derisively, "I guess I didn't know how to tell you so I kept it to myself."

 

*There were a few minutes of silence. The listeners held their breath hoping that the connection hadn't been lost. Pike finally broke the silence changing the subject.*

 

"What I don't understand is Cordelia said Xander had sex with Faith. She's a Slayer too so why aren't his bones broken?"

 

"Well, for one they weren't driven half mad with uncontrollable lust. Two, from what Faith told me Xander had a little problem with *pre-ejaculation*. He came as soon as he got it in. They didn't get a chance to *mess around.* She said she got pissed at his *lack of control* and threw his ass out of her room, naked, his clothes in his hand as soon as he had dressed."

 

*The eavesdroppers all looked at Xander. Xander's face turned bright red with embarrassment. He was looking a little sheepish. Willow was looking at him with a little sympathy. Cordelia was openly grinning. Gunn had a look of amusement on his face. Wesley had his head down cleaning his glasses. Angel's expression was unreadable. *

 

*"Geez, it was my first time. I've gotten better," he muttered, feeling the need to attempt to salvage some pride.*

 

*"Sure you have one second boy," Cordelia taunted.*

 

*"Shh, I can't hear them." Gunn chided.*

 

*The voices from the speaker came through again as Buffy and Pike continued their conversation

 

"Well, now I know. Let's hope your friend has solved his little early *jacking* problem."

 

Buffy laughed. "He's older, more experienced. I'm sure he has."

 

Pike was curious about Angel, about what he had seen earlier. Tentatively, he nudged the conversation in that direction.

 

"So, Angel was the guy you were seeing around...when was that? Christmas in your...junior year?"

 

"Yeah."

 

Buffy stared out the window of the truck as Pike drove, her thoughts drifting back to those happy days. When things seemed so easy, when her future stretched out in front of her with the possibility for unlimited happiness. How quickly things had changed.

 

"So what happened? You were giddy over him. You blushed every time I asked. And you were wearing his jacket all the time - and looking radiant in it, I might add."

 

Pike looked at Buffy out of the corner of his eye, noting her thoughtful expression, the sadness.

 

Buffy pushed aside her thoughts and attempted to joke her way through the conversation. 

 

"It's leather. It's hard to look bad in leather."

 

Pike chuckled. "Puh-lease. You wore my leather jacket for a while and you never looked half as happy to be wearing it."

 

"It was just a jacket, Pike. Leave it." Buffy sighed.

 

"Yeah, right. Then how come you were always sniffing it? You never smelled my jacket." He teased, as only a long time friend can.

 

"Oh, Shut. Up!" She laughed.

 

They were silent for awhile, Pike turning the truck off now that they had reached the warehouse where the dogs were contained.

 

"Wanna talk about last night? You seem a little distant today. And your *creature of the night* friend seems a little meaner than before if that's possible."

 

"Oh, really? I hadn't noticed."

 

"Yeah, I'd say he's definitely not in a good mood today. And you seem to be fidgeting a lot. Unable to get comfortable. Why can't you sit still? What's with that?"

 

*Angel grimaced thinking of the wince of pain on her face this morning. He knew she was probably sore from last night. They had really gone at it all night long. He didn't think they took more than a 5-minute break at any given time. The others looked at him suspiciously. He refused to meet their stares. He knew she had to be sore. Last night was her first experience with anal sex and he knew Angelus had been a little rough with her. He again wondered if he should follow them. Just to make sure Buffy wasn't suffering any lasting effects from last night. *

 

"What happened? Did you two have another argument after we split up last night? Did his evil side Angelus appear?"

 

Buffy laughed, "The man of many questions. I see Cordelia has gotten you up to speed on some of the news. So how's it going with Queen C? You do know that 's what's on her license plate?" 

 

Pike laughed too. "Yeah, I know. I stayed at her place last night."

 

*The other listeners now focused their attention on Cordelia. She placed her hands on her hips and met their stares. "It was perfectly innocent. I was scared."*

 

"Did you really?" Buffy's voice was teasing.

 

*Pike's next words gave credibility to Cordelia's disclaimer.*

 

"She was scared. She had a very horrific experience yesterday, plus battling hellhounds last night. It took a lot out of her. I spent the night with her but we didn't do anything."

 

At Buffy's skeptical look, he smiled shyly.

 

"Okay, maybe some really hot kisses and heavy petting but that was all. And yes I slept in her bed with her but the operative word is *slept.* Cordelia thought I'd be more comfortable in the bed instead of trying to manage on a sofa with my bad back. I like Cordelia. I think she's a very beautiful, intelligent, witty person. When all this is over, I hope to get to know her better."

 

*Cordelia beamed. "I knew he liked me. I can't wait until we can kill these dogs things and Pike and I can start exploring our relationship.*"

 

"So now that I've answered your questions answer mine. Cordelia filled me in pretty much and I must admit some of the stuff she told me about you and Angel was really hard to believe. Did you really let him almost drain you to save his life?"

 

"Yeah."

 

There was a lengthy pause. Then Buffy let out a resigned sigh. Pike wasn't going to let this go, so she might as well come clean.

 

Her voice sounded as if it were coming from a distance, at least to her. "My love for Angel is a little frightening. It sorta borders on obsession. That whole thing with Faith shooting him......forced me to realize something. I've always known that I'd die for him, that's never been an issue, but, well, when his life was threatened it made me realize I'd do the thing that slayers are forbidden to do. I'd kill a human to save Angel."

 

*The eavesdroppers all shifted uncomfortably as the obviously heartfelt and emotional declaration. They were reminded again that they were listening in on a personal conversation. A very personal conversation. In the next minute, they all came to the same realization. Buffy didn't use the word love in the past tense. She was definitely talking the present tense. Again all eyes turned to Angel. He ignored them again. His own thoughts chaotic. She loved him. It wasn't just something she said in the heat of passion. She really loved him. So why the cold-shoulder this morning and this evening? Why was she avoiding him?*

 

"Yeah, that is frightening," Pike observed, studying Buffy carefully. In all the years that he'd known her, known about her feelings for Angel - 'leather jacket guy' - he'd never stopped once to consider the sheer depth of her feelings. She was so strong and seemed to keep so much to herself, that he never considered that she might love someone so deeply that it frightened her.

 

"Who ya telling? Doesn't matter now. Angel and I are through." Buffy signed resignedly, then shifted on the seat trying to find a more comfortable position. The leather creaked with her movements.

 

"If you and Angel are so over, then why are you tryin' to hide the *Love bites* and puncture marks on your neck?" 

 

Pike felt a shimmer of anger that Angel would use her and then leave her, again. Cordelia had told him that Angel had left Buffy after she sacrificed herself to save him. Left her in fact, without saying good-bye.

 

*Once more, all eyes turned to Angel. His back was to them now and he stared out the window into the dark night. He was resisting the impulse to go to her now and attempt to make things right. He didn't care what the others thought. And again, he was reminded that they should not be listening to this conversations. He wanted to tell Riley to turn if off, but he couldn't.*

 

"Oh! You noticed. Do you think anyone else noticed?" 

 

Buffy reached up, adjusting the scarf she wore. The marks were fading but still noticeable.

 

"They did unless they were blind. They just didn't want to say anything. So, the question still remains what did you and Angel do last night?"

 

"Are you sure you want to hear this?"

 

"I asked didn't I." Pike wasn't sure, but Buffy was his friend and he felt that she needed someone to talk to; someone that wouldn't judge her or berate her for anything that might have happened.

 

Buffy took a deep breath. It could clearly be heard over the speaker. After a long silence, she spoke her words coming out in a rush.

 

"Angel/Angelus and I spent the night fucking each other's brains out on top of the roof of his hotel and scaring the pigeons."

 

*"Why you bastard," Riley roared, jumping to his feet. "I should fucking stake you."*

 

*Angel barely glanced at Riley over his shoulder. "Don't try it boy. I won't even break a sweat to kill you. You planted a bug on Buffy and now you've heard something you didn't like. Maybe next time you'll think twice about eavesdropping on someone's conversation."*

 

Gunn had also come to his feet prepared to assist Angel if necessary. He didn't like Riley, so any excuse to throw the soldier boy's ass out on the street was a good one. 

 

*"This isn't over," Riley said menacingly. Hatred was blinding his vision. He knew that he would not leave LA until he killed the monster that had fucked his girlfriend."*

 

*"Can you please shut up so we can listen," Cordelia snapped, her love of a good gossip taking precedence over a male testosterone pissing contest which Angel would undoubtedly win.*

 

*Riley glared at Angel and clamped his mouth shut. Angel knew that he would now have to keep his eyes on Riley. He knew the look. If given half a chance Riley would definitely try to stake him.*

 

"You did what?!" Pike asked in disbelief.

 

"You heard me. I spent half the night fucking my *creature of the night * ex. Both the good and the evil version of him and loving every minute of it."

 

"Um, okay. How can that be?" Pike suspected as much, but he was surprised at Buffy's blunt declaration.

 

"Believe it or not pretty simple. They both kept reappearing. Angel is so gentle and tender passionate and caring when he makes love to me. Where I'm always so careful with others Angel treats me like I would break. I love it. Angelus is the exact opposite. He's just pure unadulterated lust. He's passionate forceful and mixes pleasure with just a little bit of pain. They had me begging and screaming all night."

 

"The big guy is gentle?! You mean the guy I saw rip brain and spine out of a hell hound last night with his bare hands -that one- is gentle." Pike couldn't quite picture it given what he knew about Angel.

 

A wistful smile crossed Buffy's face. "Well, he is with me. I like how careful he is when he makes love to me. No matter how passionate or heated things get Angel is tender with me. Brutally tender sometimes, but still tender."

 

"I don't believe this. If you are that into Angel, then what happened to break the two of you up? When you use to tell me about him you said *not only is he perfect, but I can't hurt him.* So why are you datin' soldier boy and fuckin' creature of the night boyfriend behind his back? If you are still so into him why did you and Angel break it off?"

 

"It's the usual Buffy story.... again. I hurt him. Not physically, much worse. I jeopardized his soul. He finally decided I was a freak too. Right before the prom he told me he was leavin' me and our *freak show.* He didn't even say good-bye."

 

Buffy's words reflected all the hurt and the anguish she felt at the time. The hurt that she still carried around inside her.

 

*Angel's color drained from his face. He didn't realize that she thought he was calling her a freak. He was the freak in their relationship. Not her. She was everything that was good in their relationship. He would definitely set her straight as soon as she got back. She wouldn't get out of it this time. She'd talk with him. It had waited long enough.* 

 

"Yeah Cordelia told me about his soul. I'm sorry."

 

"So how were you able to be together last night?"

 

"I guess he's resolved the issues about his soul. And of course, he didn't bother to tell me. The little freak he left in good ole Sunnydale wasn't worth a telephone call to say *hey, guess what, my soul is permanent.*" 

 

Pike heard the deep hurt inflected in her voice.

 

"So, you hooked up with Riley after Angel left you. Do you love him? Riley that is?"

 

"Nope." Buffy wanted to say something different, wished she could, but there was not hesitation in her voice when she spoke.

 

*Riley's face fell at Buffy's revelation. His lips tightened and his eyes became hard and brittle. Willow who had been standing near him backed away.*

 

"Then why are you with him?"

 

"Because I don't love him. When he leaves I won't care. It won't hurt."

 

"When he leaves?" Pike glanced out the window. It was almost time.

 

"Everybody leaves."

 

"Do you really believe that?" He turned his attention back to Buffy, surprised somewhat by her words. Was she going to go through life alone because she didn't want to risk her heart again? Again, he felt an irrational anger towards Angel for hurting her so deeply, for setting the precedent so firmly in her mind.

 

"Yeah. The man I love left me because I was a freak and because he wanted me to fuck. So, I fuck. If I didn't, then he left me for nothing."

 

"But how can you and Riley.........?"

 

"Well, first I fucked a guy named Parker. I damn near crippled him too. He avoided me and I was too ashamed to tell anybody why. So, I faced the humiliation of his lies - to cover his embarrassment - and let my friends think that I was used. Granted, that's all he probably wanted to do, was use me, but Slayer strength was just a little bit surprising...painfully so. I learned from that. Now, I take precautions. And Riley, he's a steroid junkie: I can smell it on him."

 

"What are you talking about? What precautions? You mean like condoms"

 

"Yeah that too, but besides that I mean Slayer precautions. I take a little bit of diluted poison before we have sex. It weakens me enough so I don't break him and it wears off by morning. That and the steroids give him a strength boost."

 

"Poison? What type of poison?"

 

"Mohra blood. At eighteen, the Watcher's Council likes to poison their Slayers so that they're weaker than even normal girls and then send them out to battle vampires, that way they can prove that the Powers or whatever were right in choosing us and that we're worthy of our sacred duty. Mohra blood is one of the compounds they use to turn a Slayer weak. In humans, it slows their healing rate and inhibits adrenaline - therefore weakening its victim. Intravenously it takes days for the effects to wear off, ingested, just a few hours. That's why I can't have sex with Riley while we're here. I'm not taking the poison because I need to be strong to fight the Sk'larra. And of course now that I've spent the night fucking my ex I certainly can't fuck Riley."

 

 

*Angel's mind raced. Mohra blood! They day that he had been human, the day that he had given back. Had the presence of the blood in his veins that day been enough to weaken her so that she hadn't hurt him? And, an even bigger question looming in his mind - had the weakness he felt as a human that day been only temporary? When it wore off, would he have retained his strength and power, yet been human? Had the Oracles tricked him? Granted, the curse had been lifted that day. He would have to get some answers, but he couldn't do that now. *

 

Buffy let out sharp laugh.

 

"I spent half the night fucking Angel/Angelus. No poison in my system just au natural Buffy. I didn't have to worry about breaking his bones or being too rough with him because he can take what ever I dish out. Too be honest with you I'm the one who begged off last night. He--They wore me out. I couldn't go anymore. It felt good to be in the arms of the man I love and not have to worry that I might hurt him with my passion. It was exhilarating to just let my passion loose unguarded running wild. My body hasn't felt this sated since the first time Angel and I made love." 

 

"So, now what are you going to tell Soldier Boy?"

 

"The same thing I just told you."

 

"And that is......?"

 

"That I spent the night fucking my ex. I won't elaborate or go into detail, but he deserves to know the truth. After we get back to Sunnydale I'll tell him." 

 

"And if he breaks it off with you?"

 

"That's just a chance I have to take."

 

"So, you're going to get back with Angel?"

 

*There was a long pause. For a moment the eavesdroppers thought that Buffy wouldn't answer. The sound of the car door opening creaked as Buffy prepared to get out.*

 

Buffy grabbed her bag and checked the contents. They needed to get moving now. She could even hear the restless Sk'larra moving around in the building from the short distance away. They could smell her, the warm blood.

 

*The car door slammed. Was she going to answer the question? The occupants at the Hyperion waited with bated breath.*

 

"I don't think so." Buffy finally answered Pike's question. It wasn't the first time that she wished she had another answer to give him or herself.

 

*Riley smiled maliciously at Angel. Angel's dead heart constricted in his chest.* 

 

"Why?"

 

"You notice I said I fucked my ex?"

 

"Yeah, I noticed."

 

Buffy's voice was faint, as it was obvious she was now talking to Pike from outside the truck.

 

"That's because not once during that long night did Angel tell me he loved me. I told him but he never told me. That's why I call it *fucking* and not *making love.* When we were datin' - back in good Ole Sunnydale the one thing I could always depend on was that he would tell me three to five times a day that he loved me. I miss that. I miss hearin' Angel tellin' me he loves me. I miss feelin' the kind of love Angel and I shared. I miss the life I shared with Angel. Hell, I miss Angel. I've always had this hunger inside me gnawing at my insides screaming to be fed. With Angel the hunger was always sated. Since he left it's with me constantly. Even when we couldn't make love the hunger was always satisfied. I don't care how often I fuck Riley it won't go away. It's always there. The hunger is so great without Angel it's painful. He's the only man who has ever been able to sate that hunger and he doesn't want me," she said sadly. She laughed tryin' to play off her somber feelings. But on the bright side," she said false cheer lacing her voice, "Angelus told me I was his whore-bitch for life. I think that meant a lot to him in his own twisted murderous, torturous hell-y way."

 

Pike laughed and Buffy joined in.

 

*At that moment Angel would have given his unlife to be with Buffy to hold her to comfort her. To let her know he'd never stopped loving her. To let her know he missed her too. He missed telling her he loved her. He missed being with her. He missed their life together too. He felt that same hunger. He knew what she spoke of. It constantly ate at him. These last two days the hunger had left him. He knew why he was no longer hungry. It wasn't just because he'd made love to Buffy it was because she was back in his life.* 

 

*He'd also have to tell Buffy that being Angelus' *whore bitch* was a great honor at least in Angelus' mind. He'd never bestowed the title on another female not even Darla his sire or Druscilla his obsession. She was the first. To Angelus *whore bitch* meant love the only way he knew how to give it in his twisted, murderous, torturous hell-y way.*

 

"Now you've heard my whole love-life in all its sordid and gory details. Maybe when this is all over, you can tell me how I can do better." Buffy smiled at Pike, thinking how much easier it would have been if she had fallen in love with him.

 

"I doubt that. I'm not exactly a role model of successful relationships. Although, if things work out with Cordelia, I may have something to share." Pike returned Buffy's smile.

 

"See you at dawn. Stay in the truck, okay?" Buffy tapped twice on the truck and jogged toward the warehouse as Pike watched. When she opened the door to loose the hellhounds, he rolled up the window. She sprinted past, the dogs racing behind. The game was on.

 

* * * * * *

 

The night was unbearably long for the occupants at the Hyperion. They could do nothing but wait. Buffy having left strict orders that no one appear near the warehouse to distract the dogs. She needed their full, undivided attention to capture them all.

 

Angel paced and Cordelia fretted. She would have been relieved to know that Pike was simply watching and waiting from the safety of his truck. His job was to count the hounds and make sure that none strayed. If necessary, he could shoot the strays from his truck.

 

Riley watched Angel angrily from under his lashes, envisioning a slow painful death for the vampire. Wesley studied the web site with the Sk'larra information, along with several texts of his own that he had pulled out. Willow was reading one of them, anything to occupy her mind and kill time. Xander and Gunn were playing cards.

 

* * * * * *

Buffy stopped in the center of the abondoned steel structure. A perfect circle had been drawn around it. She was panting from her fast run to keep the dogs from snapping at her heels. She watched the red eyes approaching fast in the darkness. The second the first dog bounded across the circle, Buffy jumped up and grabbed the iron bars of the structure and hauled herself up. The dog leaped at her feet, narrowly missing her as she climbed.

 

Buffy waited, watching carefully as more of the hellhounds joined their pack in the circle. They were restless and yapping, snarling and growling as they paced beneath her. The few that attempted to step out of the bounds of the circle yelped in pain. She sighed, it was working.

 

Curiously, a second wave of dogs arrived. These dozen or so stopped just to the edge of the circle and sniffed the air. One dog, clearly the leader, seemed to be watching her, studying her. The dog howled and the others stopped, several dropped to the ground as if frightened while others howled in reply.

 

"Come on little doggies, into the nice circle." 

 

Buffy watched them nervously, their behavior unusual. Last time they had all rushed into the circle, greedy for the hunt, for the promise of fresh meat, Then Pike signaled her and they performed the ritual. Granted, there hadn't been as many of them.

 

Maybe their circle was too small? She grumbled in frustration and looked out into the darkness, hoping to see Pike pull up in his truck any minute now. Reaching into her bag, she dug for her cell phone.

 

 

* * * * * *

 

"Well, what is this?" Wesley sipped his tea, his voice breaking the tense silence.

 

Angel looked at him distractedly, as did Cordelia. Willow sat up with interest, while the others seemed not to hear him at all.

 

"The birth of the third litter of three shall bring forth the hunter, and he will bring order to the chaos of the pack." Over his shoulder Willow read aloud the passage that he pointed at several times, as she attempted to make sense of it.

 

"Yeah, so what?" Cordelia, exasperated, ran her fingers through her hair and looked at Wesley.

 

"Angel, didn't you say that there was evidence that the animals were mating?" Wesley flipped to another page in a different book, his fingers moving rapidly over the page.

 

"Yes." Angel's attention was focused one hundred percent on Wesley now. He walked toward him, his eyes unwavering.

 

"I'm not sure I understand completely, but it would appear that this *hunter* is a sentient being, capable of logic and reason. Clearly it only comes forth when their numbers are large, third litter of three and all that, but from what little I see here, it could be quite dangerous."

 

"Oh, oh. Here." Willow pointed to the book she held in her hand. She read for a moment then looked up with a worried expression on her face. "I think we should warn Buffy, if the pack has a hunter, then the ritual that they are using may not work. This hunter would be smart enough to sense a trap."

 

"Pike! We have to call Pike." Cordelia's thoughts first went to the man she had been daydreaming about for the last few hours. "He's there with her, he can warn her. Who has his number?" They all looked at her blankly. If anyone should have his cell number, they thought it would be her. Buffy's friends all just dealt with Pike through Buffy, so they didn't have it.

 

"So, we'll call Buffy." Unexpectedly, Xander came up with the next best thing.

 

"Yes. Buffy. Call Buffy." Willow babbled nervously and jumped to her feet. 

 

"Uh, phone?"

 

Angel, Wesley, Gunn and Cordelia all pointed her to the office. Willow rushed over, Angel and now Riley, close behind, the two men practically elbowing each other out of the way.

 

Willow dialed and they all waited tensely. On the first try, the signal came back as *out of the area.* She dialed again. It rang and rang, no answer.

 

"I'll go." With preternatural speed, Angel whirled around and grabbed a large and very lethal looking crossbow out of the weapons cabinet, along with an ax.

 

"No way. If anyone's going, I am." Riley crossed his arms over his chest, illogically thinking that he'd be able to block Angel's path. It only showed that he was either stupid or not thinking, in that he also attempted to stand his ground with the vampire so heavily armed.

 

"Sorry, *boy*, but you're warm blooded. They'll smell you in a second." Angel dismissively walked around Riley. Glancing at Wesley and Gunn, Angel nodded toward the office where Willow was still trying to reach Buffy. "Keep trying to get a hold of her. I've got my phone. I'll call."

 

* * * * * *

 

Pike stopped his truck near the edge of the abandoned structure and flashed his lights. Buffy shook her head vigorously, hoping that he'd be able to see her in the dark. All the dogs were not in the circle, she couldn't start the ritual. She looked down at the ground where her cell phone lay, now ringing repeatedly. She fumbled it on the steel bars when she tried to get it out of her bag, now it was next to useless. Several of the dogs had pawed at it curiously when it fell, but were largely uninterested since it was apparently not a meal.

 

Pike sat up straighter, now tense and wary, a crawling sensation forming on the back of his scalp. In the bright light of the moon he could see the dozen or so dogs clearly as they trotted around the outer perimeter of the circle. They had stopped suddenly and were now staring in his direction, the glowing red of their eyes eerie in the still of the night.

 

What had happened? Why weren't they all in the circle? As his mind ran through the possibilities, his eyes were once again drawn to Buffy. She appeared to be climbing down. What was she doing?! She couldn't fight off that many dogs by herself.

 

Pike grabbed the crossbow from the backseat. He had half dozen or so bolts easily within reach. Slowly he started up the truck, preparing to move into position so that he'd have a better shot at them. That's when he saw the lights of a car speeding toward him. The car was coming fast, the driver obviously someone with a purpose.

 

Buffy had just been preparing to drop to the ground when she too saw the headlights of the oncoming car. She groaned. Just what she needed - not only were the dogs being uncooperative, but now she'd have a bystander to deal with. Her attention distracted, one of the dogs leapt up and snapped at her leg, biting with just the tips of it's fangs before Buffy snatched her leg out of the way. She hissed in pain at the scrapes. 

 

"Damn it."

 

Angel's car came to a sudden stop just to the right of Pike's truck. He could see the dogs, and Buffy, clearly. With a quick assessment of the situation, he opened the car door.

 

Pike rolled his eyes at the melodramatic arrival. Leave it to Buffy to find a guy that would make a near movie perfect entrance at a dramatic moment.

 

Angel nodded to Pike, and slung the crossbow over his shoulder as he walked slowly toward the playground. The hunter and his pack watched Angel warily, their noses lifted as they took in the scent of the new arrival. Snarling, they advanced toward him. It wasn't warm blood, but it was blood and they were hungry.

 

"Buffy!" Angel yelled, continued his slow walk toward her.

 

"Angel! What the hell are you doing here?"

 

"Later. Which one is the leader?" 

 

He could guess, but he wanted to be sure. He needed to be right, he'd only get one shot before they would get him.

 

"The black and gray one."

 

Angel spared her a frustrated glance. They were all black and gray, and mixed with the bare pink of their raw flesh.

 

"The young one second to the right, I think," she pointed.

 

The dogs were picking up their pace as they came increasingly near to Angel. The other hounds in the circle had sensed the increased tension of the others pack and they began snarling and yelping in with increased frenzy. They lunged in Angel's direction, but were stopped by the invisible barrier of the circle. With frothy pink foam coming out of their mouths, the hounds salivated and barked - anxious for the kill.

 

Angel stopped and drew the crossbow. Behind him, Pike had shifted the position of his truck and also aimed. Within seconds of each other, they both fired. Angel's bolt struck the leader squarely through the head, the powerful weapon he held dangerous in extreme. Pike managed to hit the one to Angel's right in the neck.

 

With the hunter down, the pack began howling in frenzy.

 

"Get the hell out of here!" Buffy yelled at Angel as the dogs neared him. 

 

Without a second thought, she dropped to the ground. The dogs drew up short, the smell of a warm meal more appealing than what they sensed in front of them.

 

"Go!" Buffy screamed again, without looking at him, her focus on the dogs now charging once again toward her. Her ploy had worked, the remainder of the dogs had now entered the circle. She leapt up and grabbed the bars. One dog managed to bite her foot as she jerked it up, but otherwise she was unscathed.

 

"Come on! You've got to get away from here." Pike yelled at Angel from his 

truck, knowing that Buffy needed to get the ritual underway. 

 

Angel hesitated for a few minutes, then turned and walked back the way he came. He talked with Pike for a few minutes, then sat in his car and waited.

 

Buffy knew it was time. She closed her eyes, summoning her strength. This required her to tap into rarely used powers that Slayers possessed, power to control the basic natural elements, to create wind, rain, fire. She began to chant.

 

Slowly a white flame rose from the ground in a circle as Buffy's voice grew louder.

 

Angel watched in stunned silence, unaware of the power she could command. When the first flames began, he flinched. He was worried too. Buffy was in the middle of the ever-rising flames. He was fascinated. Angel stayed watching Buffy until the gray light of dawn forced him to leave. Finally, he started his car and drove back to the hotel to wait.

 

 

* * * * * *

 

With the first cool light of morning, the flames receded. By the time the sun was peeking over the horizon, the powdery white remains of the Sk'larra began to drift with the breeze. Within a day or two, there would be no evidence of what had taken place here.

 

Pike climbed painfully down from his truck and trudged across the grass and dirt to where Buffy lay collapsed on the iron bars. He knew that the powers she had called on last night were as draining on her as they were powerful. They were also frightening, because she often felt as if they could easily slip from her control.

 

She groaned as he called to her, rising groggily. Slowly she managed to climb down, dropping to her feet next to him. She hissed in pain at the bite and few scrapes on her leg. They were already healing, but still tender. Add that to her over indulgence in pleasure the night before and she was sore and weary. Of course she had to admit at least with the night of indulgence it was quite pleasurable.

 

"You okay?" Pike put his arm around her shoulder and she in turn, carefully wrapped her arm around his waist as they made their way off the playground. He insisted on helping her in to his truck when they reached it, though it was unnecessary.

 

"Yeah. Tired." She gave him a small smile. "When did Angel leave?" She remembered him being there until she lost consciousness.

 

"He left on the tails of day break. I think you need to talk to him. Something tells me you're wrong about his feelings for you. The guy that sat in his car last night and watched you until the gray light of dawn drove him away was very much a man in love."

 

Buffy wanted so much to believe him. "I want to believe that Pike, but what if you're wrong? What if he looks at me with pity and tells me he doesn't love me or worse that we're just friends? I don't know if my pride or heart for that matter can take that kind of blow. Besides, he wanted out of the *freakshow* before - I'm not sure he'll want back in."

 

"Which would you rather have - your pride or learning whether the man you love loves you in return?" He arched his eyebrow as he looked at he intently.

 

Buffy gave him a tired smile. She thought about the hunger that had eaten at her since he'd been out of her life. She knew only he could sate that hunger. "I must be tired since I'm actually considering taking your advice," she teased.

 

They both laughed as they wearily made their way to his truck.

 

* * * * * *

 

When Angel arrived back at the Hyperion, he'd made a few decisions. He thought about the last two nights. For two nights the hunger he'd felt for the last two years had been abated. It had not gnawed at his gut endlessly. Buffy had filled his hunger. And he intended to end his hunger forever. Even though questions were coming at him in all directions, he ignored them as he stopped in front of Riley.

 

"Get out. Go back to Sunnydale." His tone was cool, but decisive.

 

"I don't think so. I'll be waiting here for Buffy." Riley drew himself up to his full height and stared back at Angel. He hadn't fared quite so well in their last confrontation, but Riley was undaunted.

 

"I won't ask you again." Angel stared the younger man down.

 

"Don't you know who I am? I'm Buffy's boyfriend and she won't like this." Riley's high-pitched voice betrayed his fear.

 

"I don't care if you're the King of the World." Angel resisted the urge to smirk, having heard of Riley's tendency to mimic the scene from the Titanic. His next words however, were a snarl, "In case it hasn't penetrated your thick skull. Buffy doesn't love you. She loves me. And after today I can assure you I will never let her go again. Now, leave before I throw you out physically." The rest of the team saw now why other demons had trembled before Angelus, courage and boldness clearly a honed trait.

 

"You'll regret this." Riley took a step backward. "Mark my words."

 

Angel advanced, closing the distance between them in two quick strides. Willow let out a short squeak in surprise and Cordelia gasped. Grabbing a handful of Riley's shirt, Angel hoisted him up as if he were weightless. His voice was the merest whisper. "What was that?"

 

Riley's hesitated, his eyes searching the room.

 

"No one's going to help you boy. And I can crush your puny, steroid ridden body without breaking a sweat. Now get out of my hotel." Angel dropped him then as if he were distasteful.

 

Riley scrambled to his feet, "She'll never forgive you for leaving her. Never! Just watch, she'll come back to me," he said as he stumbled out of the hotel. At his hasty exit, everyone seemed to breathe a sign of relief.

 

"Yo, Angel, man, what got in to you?" Gunn turned from watching Riley leave and looked back at Angel.

 

Angel glanced at Gunn and shrugged. "I didn't like him." He turned then and left the room.

 

* * * * * *

 

Buffy insisted that Pike take her to her dad's condo first so she could shower and change clothes, not to mention bandage her few wounds. While she was in the shower, Pike called Cordelia.

 

"Hey, beautiful."

 

"Hi Pike!" Cordelia fairly blushed. "How'd it go?"

 

Willow and Xander glanced in her direction, anxious to hear that Buffy was all right.

 

"Fine. No more Sk'larra, at least for awhile."

 

"Where are you? Are you guys coming here? When will I see you?" The brunette seer twirled her hair.

 

Pike laughed softly at her impatient questions. "Buffy's dad's. Probably, and I hope soon."

 

"What do you mean probably and you hope? You are, coming *right*?" She emphasized.

 

"Buffy isn't sure that Angel wants to see her."

 

"Yeah, right. After the male testosterone-pissing contest he just put on earlier today believe me he definitely wants to see her. Do what you have to do, but get Buffy here." She looked up in time to see Angel coming back down the stairs. He'd been up there so long she thought he had fallen asleep.

 

"Okay then, see you in about an hour." The brunette hung up the phone, glancing up at Angel. He seemed to be in a remarkably good mood after getting rid of Riley, he was almost smiling. She was worried.

 

"What's up with you?' The ex-May queen asked, her own mood brightened by Pike's call. "You're wearing a white shirt and you're not all broody."

 

Angel shrugged. "Does something have to be wrong? I'm in a good mood."

 

"Uh-huh." She was skeptical. She caught Gunn's eye over Angel's shoulder.

 

"What? After over a year of no action, the man got laid the other night by a *beautiful* blonde, what's not to be happy about?" Gunn lifted his coffee cup in mock salute. "Or, maybe I should use her term and say, spent half the night fuc---Okay, okay." Gunn grinned but stopped talking when Angel shot him a dark look.

 

Cordelia rolled her eyes, but smiled. Willow blushed and Xander looked upset.

 

When Pike and Buffy arrived back at the Hyperion it was mid-morning. Pike made his way slowly, laboring with his cane. When Cordelia spotted him, she rushed forward and hugged him, nearly knocking him over in her exuberance.

 

"Cool footwear you got there Buffster!" Xander teased looking at her choice of footwear.

 

"Thanks Xan, you know me always the trend setter." Buffy laughed and hugged Xander and Willow. She was wearing her cow head slippers, the bandage on her foot not comfortable in any other shoes. 

 

"I'm glad you're okay, although I wasn't really worried because I know you said you had gotten rid of those nasty dogs before, but then we read the other stuff and I was a little worried. But then Angel went to help you and when he came back he said you were alright......and I'm rambling," Willow said smiling sheepishly.

 

"That's okay Will. There's something to be said for a good ramble," Buffy laughed.

 

Buffy looked around the room, "Where is Riley?"

 

"Heard some news that upset him a little. He decided to leave," Xander told her smiling mysteriously, "and not a moment too soon I'd say."

 

Gunn and Cordelia laughed at Xander's explanation of Riley's departure.

 

"*Ooo-Kay*," Buffy responded not sure what or who had forced Riley to go back to Sunnydale but grateful that he was gone. She had only just released Willow and Xander from her hug when Angel stopped in front of her. Without a word, he jerked her forward and threw her over his shoulder.

 

"What the......?!" Buffy gasped, the air knocked out of her by his shoulder as he started toward his rooms. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

 

Angel turned then, as if suddenly remembering his manners. "We've got some things to discuss - privately. And rather than argue with her and have her ignore me or worse just let her slip through my fingers again, this seems the best way to handle it. Everyone, make yourself at home. We'll be back later."

 

"Angel, dammit." Buffy struggled, pounding on his back. "Put me down."

 

He swatted her once on the behind, effectively silencing her protests as her face flamed in embarrassment. *Oh, just wait until he puts me down, she thought. Boy am I going to give him a piece of her mind.*

 

"Well, that's certainly one way to get a lady's attention." Pike drawled watching Angel swiftly climb the steps with Buffy over his shoulder.

 

Cordelia shrugged nonchalantly, "Just another episode of the Buffy and Angel show. Well, let's go get somethin' to eat and maybe catch a movie. Other than the fact they are probably going to be up there for the rest of the day I don't want to be around when they *do it.* Somethin' tells me they might be really *loud.*"

 

The others looked uncomfortable all remembering Buffy's description of how she had screamed all night making love to Angel and Angelus.

 

"So, where we goin'?" Xander asked always ready to eat.

 

Cordelia produced a credit card. "I have Angel's credit card," she said wiggling her eyebrows. When Wesley gave her a disapproving look she justified, "Hey it's not like it's his Platinum card. It's just the Gold one. We've all worked hard I say we deserve a good meal. Everyone that agrees follow me. Anyone else," she said pointedly looking at Wesley, "can stay here and listen to those two moan and scream the roof off the hotel."

 

Pike supported his love interest, "I'm with Cordy. Where she leads I'll follow."

 

"We are goin' to get along so well," Cordy gave him her heart breaker smile as her arm circled his waist. She looked over her shoulder as she was walking with Pike to the door, "Comin' Wes?"

 

"I guess we all deserve a meal. It can be written off as a legitimate business expense for entertaining out of town guests," Wesley relented.

 

"My vote is on the place over on Fifth Avenue. They have the *hottest* buffalo wings in the city. Do you like wings Red?" Gunn asked following behind Willow as they left the hotel.

 

"Yep, especially when they serve them with celery and blue cheese for dipping; and they're like really, really, really hot and make your eyes water, you nose run, top of your head sweat and you have to guzzle strawberry soda to cool the roof of your mouth," she gushed.

 

"Red I can see now we are going to be good friends," Gunn said smiling down at the pretty red head as they followed the gang out the door.

 

* * * * * *

Angel deposited Buffy on the sofa in his suite. She struggled to a sitting position and glared stakes at him.

 

"That was the most.... the most cave-vampire, Neanderthal.......display I've ever seen! What the hell has gotten in to you?!"

 

"It seemed to be the quickest way to talk to you," He squatted down until he was eye level with Buffy. His hands were flat on the sofa on either side of her.

 

"What's there to talk about? I know what you want to say. You want to tell me that the other night was a mistake. I know that. I won't hold you to anything. So, you can put your old fashioned sense of Chivalry to rest."

 

Angel never being one to elaborate decided to take the short route.

 

"I love you," he said reverently looking deeply in her eyes.

 

"Excuse Me?" Buffy said staring back at him. She wasn't sure she'd heard him correctly. "You love me?"

 

"I always have and I always will. That will never change. Forever, that's the whole point - or don't you remember?"

 

"Then why the Hell are you living in LA and I'm still in Sunnydale? Why the Hell have I spent the last year fucking a man I don't love?"

 

"Because I've been stupid."

 

"At least we agree on something," Buffy muttered. "So, why tell me you love me now Angel. What has changed? Other than we can fuck without risking your soul. Which by the way I'm pissed that you didn't bother to tell me your soul was permanent."

 

Angel took a deep breath. He had almost forgotten how quickly she could changed topics in the middle of a discussion or argument. She could spin his head with tangential topics and logic that made sense only to her. 

 

"The other night was as much about making love as *fucking.* I tried to show you with every kiss- and every touch how much I loved you." He let his declaration sink in before he continued. "What's changed is I don't want to spend another moment without you in my life. I know I still can't give you all the things I left so that you could have." He stood and started pacing restlessly. "Buffy you were never the freak in our relationship. I was. I can't walk with you in the sunshine, I can't give you children. And maybe it's selfish of me to want you in my life when I have nothing to offer you."

 

"Nothing to offer me? How about your love? How about your support? How about backing me up at night when I'm out slayin'? How about somethin' as simple as your companionship? Angel I'm not some swoony eyed schoolgirl. I wasn't the night you broke up with me in a stinkin' sewer and I'm not now. All the things you left me for I didn't want then and I don't want them now. What I do want is you. That's all I've ever wanted. How about accepting what I want to give you without all this broodin' and guilt? I love you. I want to give you my love without having you throw it back in my face and walking away from me. You want to offer me something..." she stood and walked to where he stood, "offer me you for as long as I live."

 

She stared at him. The love in her eyes shining. He pulled her in his arms and hugged her tightly. She hugged him back. Her hug would have broken the ribs of a normal man. Her face was smashed against his chest.

 

"Buffy? I need to apologize to you too. For how Angelus treated you. I know he was rough on you the other night. I never wanted- well, I didn't intend to allow him to take over during your first time for anal sex and I know he wasn't as gentle as he should have been. Did he hurt you?"

 

Buffy looked up at Angel, her arms still wrapped tightly around his waist. "No, he didn't hurt me. I'm a little sore but it was my first time so that's expected. Angelus isn't as gentle or considerate as you are, but don't worry - he didn't hurt me. You don't need to apologize, Angel. I made a choice. And if that choice meant having sex with your evil twin to keep him from running the streets and *offering an ugly death to everyone he met and doing it with a song in his heart* then I'll spend the night having sex with him. Besides, you were always right there keeping me safe from him, making sure he didn't hurt me. Although it was his mind sometimes, it was always your body and our love. It made the night so special. I love you Angel. If that means occasionally I have to put up with Angelus, then so be it. I feel like I should apologize to you for the way I acted with him. It was like I was starving. This hunger took over me and I just couldn't get enough of you."

 

"Baby, you don't have to apologize. I'll admit that I wish I could have had more control over Angelus the other night, but I realize that we were switching back and forth so quickly you were having a hard time just keeping up with who was making love to you. I felt the same way. This hunger for you has been gnawing at me since I left you. I was finally able to appease it, being with you. It's the first time I've been able to rest in a long time." 

 

"I'm still angry at you. I may still trust you with my life, but I don't know if I can trust you with my heart. You haven't taken very good care of it in the past. I still love you, but you can't just walk in my life again and pick things up like you never left. You have so much groveling to do you might need an eternity to do it," her words were mumbled against his chest but he understood everyone of them.

 

"Give me a chance Buffy and I promise to keep your heart safe. I'll cherish and protect it for as long as I live. I know that I have a lot of making up to do and groveling. We can do anything you want to do as long as we do it together."

 

"Anything?"

 

He nuzzled her neck inhaling her intoxicating scent, "Anything. What do you want? Just ask."

 

"She looked longingly at his bed. Then snuggled deeper in his arms. Buffy felt the beginnings of his arousal.

 

"Oh, no you don't. We went at pretty rough the other night. I may be the Slayer but even I need time to heal. I was thinking about getting more than four hours of sleep for starters."

 

"I can arrange that," he said nuzzling her face his hands cupping her ass pulling her close. "And maybe in a few days we can do other things?"

 

"We'll see."

 

He laughed scooping her up in his arms. "I'll tuck you in and hold you while you sleep. When you wake up I'll fix you something to eat."

 

**********

She snuggled closer to his cool body. The grogginess and fog of sleep slowly dissipating. She inhaled his dark erotic scent and threw her leg over his hip pressing her swollen lips against his cool hips. She pressed a hot wet kiss on his chest and mumped her warm breath heating a patch of his cool skin.

 

"Mmm, Angel," she mumbled, pressing her warm body close to his.

 

'Mmm," he answered still between sleep and consciousness going more with instinct.

 

His hands caressed from her thigh to her hip pushing his white shirt out of his path as his hands travels up her leg. He'd given her the shirt off his back to sleep in when they decided to take a nap. He was only dressed in his black silk boxers.

 

"Baby?" he asked his voice husky with sleep.

 

He could smell her beginning arousal. She pressed herself against him and he could feel her moisture through his black boxers. He turned over leveling his weight on his elbow to look down at her. Her eyes were still closed, her mouth still pouty with sleep. He leaned down and brushed his lips across hers.

 

"Feels good," she muttered her eyes still closed.

 

Angel realized she was still asleep. He also knew she was still sore. He felt her swollen nether lips pressed against him. She was in that drowsy erotic sleep. He tried to pull away from her. As he tried to pull away she tightened her arms around him and forcefully pulled his body against hers.

 

"Want you," she muttered. Angel trailed a few kissed along her face. Smiling at her forcefulness.

 

Buffy was in an erotic dream world. She could feel his cool body pressed against hers. She was sore and tender but she wanted her lover. Wanted him to express his love to her in the physical sense. Wanted him to love her without words with only hands, lips, teeth, tongue, nose and emotions. She wanted her lover to put action to the words of love he had muttered to her as she fell asleep.

 

"Baby you're too sore for this. Maybe we should wait a few days."

 

"It'll be alright if you're really gentle and tender like I know you can be. Like you were the first time we made love. It won't hurt if you ease in me gently, smoothly. I might feel a little pain but the pleasure will out weigh that." She didn't tell him that Angelus had taught her that there could be pleasure with the pain.

 

Angel groaned. He warred with his desire and his love's well-being. He brushed a strand of her hair out of her eyes and kissed each eye. He bathed her face in soft kisses trailing his tongue and lips over the soft contours of her face before capturing her luscious lips in a deep kiss. His tongue sunk into the warm sweet recesses of her mouth and tasted everything that was his love.

 

His mouth devoured hers as his nimble fingers released the buttons to his shirt she wore. He trailed a line of kisses down her throat, licking a path across her collarbone, between those two perfect globes topped with dusky rose nipples. He gently took one in his mouth and sucked it as his hands tenderly kneaded the other. She moaned and writhed beneath him.

 

Angel trailed his kisses down her chest to her stomach. His hands curved over her breasts, while his tongue played in the little indentation of her navel. She sucked in her breath and moaned in pleasure. His lips returned to her breast, sucking it deep in his mouth then withdrawing to watch her nipple harden and the color deepen. His hands moved over her, sweeping along the outer curve of her breast, down her ribs to her hips. 

 

Her hands rested on his shoulders as he buried his face against her firm abdomen, inhaling deeply and savoring her scent and her warmth. He moved lower, his hands still moving in sweeping caressing along her body. 

 

Angel parted her thighs and Buffy whimpered softly, knowing what was to come. The tingling warmth was building and she could feel the wetness at her core. He watched her for a moment, her eyes closed. He teased her inner thighs with his tongue, brushing across the passion marks he had left on her two nights ago. They were faded, but still apparent. Softly he kissed each and every one, feeling both a masculine pride and a touch of guilt that he had marked her so. 

 

When his tongue gently stroked the pouty lips between her legs, she gasped. With barely there caresses, he licked her, tasting the moisture that began to seep from her. Leisurely he savored her, his lips and tongue exploring where they would as her fingers curled into his hair while a breathless series of whispers and incoherent words came from her lips. 

 

He brought her to the very brink of passion and held her there for long moments, teetering on the edge and drawing out her pleasure. When she finally catapulted over the edge, she cried out his name softly and clutched at him. 

 

Angel moved up then, parting Buffy's legs wider to accommodate him and pressing his mouth to hers so she could taste herself on his lips. Eagerly, Buffy ran her hands along his shoulders, his arms, his back, caressing every part of him that she could touch. With palms flat, she slid her hands down his chest stopping to take his nipples between her fingers and play with them. Angel paused, his body held rigidly above her, delighting in her touch yet fighting hard to keep his desire from hurtling out of control. When her hands slid down his ribs to his hips, he pushed forward sliding into her. 

 

Buffy let out a soft cry, still sore despite his tender preparations. The pain was brief, especially compared to the feel of him. When he was inside her, filling her, making love to her, Buffy felt as if she had been empty and only now was whole. 

 

Angel moved gently within her and Buffy sucked in her breath, the sensation even more pleasurable than anticipated. When he almost completely withdrew, she dug her fingers into his back wanted to keep him with her. He thrust forward again and she released a breathy sigh. As he moved, Buffy dropped her head back assailed by sensations she had so rarely experienced, sensations only Angel could provoke. There was still a frisson of pain with each thrust, but far overshadowing it was the startling pleasure. 

 

Angel moved deliberately, straining to keep his movements slow and gentle despite the desire raging inside him, encouraging him to drive hard and fast until he was gloriously spent. When Buffy wrapped her legs around him, locking her ankles over his lower back, his control broke. He thrust hard and Buffy lifted her hips to meet each down stroke. She screamed when the hot, wild pleasure seized her again, He moved quickly, his strokes hard and deep, and then he groaned hoarsely near her ear as he shot his seed inside her. 

 

Collapsing against her, Angel wrapped his arms around her and held her to him. There was no woman like her. No woman as strong, yet vulnerable as she, that could love as she did. No one that could drive him to the absolute heights with the thrust and sway of her hips, with the merest whisper or soft cry that could take him to heaven. 

 

He loved her. Deeply and forever. 

 

He rolled, pulling her close. They slept, their hunger sated.

 

* * * * *

Buffy woke to the smell of food. She sat up pushing her hair from her eyes as Angel came through the door carrying a large box and two bags. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and squinted at him. She looked out the French doors a cool breeze blew the sheer curtains softly. Buffy gave a leisurely stretch, Angel's white shirt hanging off her shoulders. 

 

Angel was looking just as delicious as the food he was carrying. His hair was mussed from sleep and her running her fingers through it. He was shirtless and shoeless. There were *love bites* on his neck and chest. Buffy smiled thinking about how he'd gotten them. His black sweats pants were riding low on his hips. Her nose picked up the aromas of the food. He flopped down on the bed beside her.

 

"Tada!" he said with a flourish as he opened the box to reveal an extra large veggie pizza. He opened the first bag that held an extra large order of chili cheese fries and buffalo wings and in the second bag were two slices of Double chocolate cake and a cola.

 

She leaned over the food and hugged him. "I knew there was a reason I love you," she giggled. She grabbed a slice of pizza and bit into it. "Mmm," she moaned her eye rolling in pleasure.

 

He watched as she polished off half the pizza before attacking the chili fries with relish. She then alternated between the wings and the fries licking her fingers in between. His eyes followed the action of her pink tongue and thought of how much he'd like to be her fingers.

 

"Let's drive to Vegas and get married tonight." He said out of the blue.

 

"Huh?" she asked almost choking on her chili fries. "Come again?"

 

"I said, let's drive to Vegas tonight and get married. No more waiting Buffy. Let's make it official tonight. If we leave now we can be there before dawn. Get married and be in our honeymoon suite before the sun comes up."

 

She stared at him like he had lost his mind. For long minutes she just sat there holding a buffalo wing in her hand the sauce dripping down her fingers unnoticed.

 

Suddenly in a move to rival the hellhounds she had just killed she launched herself at him knocking him backwards kissing him all over his face. He could feel the buffalo wing at his neck the sauce dripping down his back If he breathed her tiny arms would have squeezed the breathe out of him. For once he was thankful he was a vampire. Her hug would have broken his bones had he been human.

 

"Buffy, love, is that a yes?" He asked trying to pry her arms from around his neck. 

 

She pulled back to look in his eyes. "That's a YES!!! Let's go," she said jumping off the bed and heading to the door.

 

Angel looked at his love and laughed. "Baby I think we have enough time to put on some clothes."

 

Buffy stopped in mid stride and looked down at herself. She started laughing. "Okay five minutes to dress and then we're out of here. In a few hours I want to have a ring on my finger and a husband in my bed.

 

"I think I can arrange that," he said as he got up to dress. He took her Claddagh ring from his jewelry box. He'd buy her a diamond when they reached Vegas to go with it, but this one simple ring would be the symbol of their love.

 

* * * *

 

If the elderly minister in the tacky vibrant blue suit notice anything unusual about the couple repeating their vows he didn't say anything. The groom was wearing black leather pants and a duster with a white silk shirt. The bride didn't look older than sixteen although her license said otherwise. Her hair was wind blown, her face was flushed and her eyes were brilliant with happiness. She was wearing white pants, what the minister knew were her husband-to-be's white silk shirt and leather jacket that dwarfed her small frame. That was not the most unusual thing about her attire. It was the black and white cow head slippers on her feet that drew attention to her. 

 

Nothing seemed to dampen the glow coming from both of them as they repeated theirs vows holding each other's hands gazing into each other's eyes as if nothing in the world mattered but the two of them.

 

"I now pronounce you husband and wife," the minister finished.

 

The tiny blonde launched herself into the waiting arms of her lover - and now husband - as he engulfed her in his embrace. His kiss devoured her. The hunger that had been eating at both of their souls had finally been appeased.

 

** END **

 

 

 

 

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