Kin of the Soul
Rated ADULT

Angel kept his hand on Wesley's back, ushering him into the hotel. The man seemed to just drift to a stop when not pushed, like all the revelations of the past hour had drained him of energy or the ability to form his own thoughts, which had been a blessing of a sort. It had facilitated the transfer of custody. When U'talaba had brought out the enslavement parchment with the spell and Wesley's signature, the man had been too astounded to do more than stare.

"Big A!" Faith yelled from the top of the stairs about a half second before she flung herself down them, using full slayer strength to take the whole length in four leaps. "Oh yeah. The big man gets the job done again! Graham just got off the phone with Riley, and Buffy is five by five, too, so your big mojo-maker did good."

"And Doyle?" Angel asked. He gave Wesley a bit of a push, and Angel's newly-acquired slave wandered to the center couch and sat. He didn't even bother putting down the box of dusty books he was carrying; he just held them in his lap.

Faith stopped right in front of Angel. "He and Harry couldn't find any food that wasn't demonic or growing mold, so they went out to find some food." Faith gave Wesley a quizzical look before raising an eyebrow at Angel.

"Bloody hell, you could offer a hand, wanker," Spike complained as he balanced two boxes and held the door for Xander and his one box.

"Let me." Faith trotted across the floor, all sign of weakness gone as she plucked the box out of Xander's arms. "Where to, boytoy?"

"Library," Xander told her before he headed for the couch. He'd been sticking close to Wesley ever since Wesley had discovered his slavery, and Angel was trying hard to strangle the creeping jealousy that kept wrapping around his heart. "Hey, why don't you give me those?" Xander reached out, but he had to physically take the books away from Wesley because the man still wasn't reacting. Xander gave Angel a concerned look, but Angel had no idea how to help. Wesley was out of danger now, so Angel didn't understand the fear that leaked from his pores.

"And let the weirdness begin," Xander sighed as he put Wesley's box on the floor.

"If you bring weirdness home, you'd better leave it outside the door," Cordelia said as she came out of the office. She stopped and stared at Wesley. "Who brought the geek?"

Wesley's gaze rose to meet hers, but he still didn't answer, and he had an expression that Angel couldn't describe. Even his years as Angelus failed to provide any memory of any human who had ever looked so very lost—at least not without significant torture.

"Way with the rude, Cordy," Xander complained.

Cordelia rolled her eyes. "Oh please. Geeks think 'geek' is a compliment. So, why is he here?"

Angel tried to find a kind way to describe the situation, something that wouldn't further traumatize the man who looked ready to crumble. He took too long.

"Peaches bought him," Spike offered as he strode back into the lobby. Crossing the lobby, he stopped in front of Cordelia, and the two of them exchanged an expression of longing and lust and trust. Spike cocked his head to the side and brought his fingers up to brush Cordelia's cheek. "You wanted some help around the place. A slave's nearly as good as a minion."

"Okay, I think we all need to ixnay with the ave-slay." Xander glared, but Spike didn't even bother breaking eye contact with Cordelia. Angel made a mental note to beat some information out of Spike because whatever had been worrying Cordelia lately, other than their dwindling resources, it was not solving itself. Pretty soon, his to-do list was going to require an entire scroll.

"I rather doubt anyone has any interest in avoiding that topic," Wesley said with a sigh. Angel flinched back from the raw emotion there. He hated the feeling of glee he got at Wesley's misery, but he couldn't deny that the power, and the contract in his pocket, were stained with this odd pleasure. While it didn't make him a good man by any stretch of the imagination, no amount of confession or prayer—or on his bad nights, Irish whiskey—could make Angel stop enjoying the little miseries of certain people. Giles was one. Clearly, Wesley was another.

"I know I plan on bringing it up whenever I can," Spike agreed with a wicked smile.

"Assions-Pay!" Xander warned with a glare. Spike's eyes narrowed and he glared back. Angel sighed as they started bickering again. He still wasn't sure whether Spike would have eviscerated Xander or bedded him if they'd met without Angel being around; however, they certainly enjoyed torturing each other.

"Not to interrupt the testosterone, but would anyone like to explain?" Faith jumped up onto the reception desk and pulled her feet up under her. "If this has something to do with those stick-up-the-ass watchers, I am voting 'no.'"

"I've parted ways with the council," Wesley said, but his voice carried none of the bravado or defiance he'd used to make that announcement earlier. He sagged like a deboned fish. It was not a pleasant sight; at least, not unless you were a sadist secretly enjoying a former enemy twisting in your power.

Graham trotted down the stairs, a wide smile on his face, but he wasn't more than halfway down when he stopped and scanned the room. When he saw Wesley, he frowned, but then he had known Wesley before and now the man looked like he'd been kicked once too often. Angel resisted the urge to defend himself since he had not been the one to put the expression on Wesley's face. Then again, after he and Spike had nearly broken Graham in their attempt to get information out of him, Angel imagined that Graham had a right to assume the worst. But at least Graham had his loyalties settled enough to watch and wait instead of challenging them.

"And we are all in favor of the parting," Xander told Wesley with a comforting pat on the knee." The look Wesley gave him in return suggested that he didn't appreciate the gesture, and Angel gritted his teeth. Just because Wesley needed to be taught manners and just because Angel wanted to make him just a little miserable, that did not give him the right to torture the man. Father Peter was going to have Angel doing penance until the next Armageddon at this rate.

"There was some confusion, and it turns out that U'talaba kinda owned Wesley," Xander explained to the room. From the confused looks, the others were going to require more explanation.

Angel took a step forward, and the others looked at him expectantly. "Wesley signed what he believed to be an employment contract. It was an enslavement contract with a binding spell."

Wesley grimaced, but he didn't protest Angel's description of events. "In my defense, Pilixy is an exceptionally difficult language. The difference in declination in the verbs referring to Pilix and non-Pilix can alter the interpretations..."

"And can I tell you right now that absolutely no one understands what you're saying?" Xander interrupted. "Okay, Angel might, but probably not. Anyway, Wesley decided to come hang out with us, so he's going to be taking your old room Cordelia."

Cordelia narrowed her eyes. "And why am I giving up my room?"

"Because you don't sleep in it anymore?"

Angel leaned against the wall and watched this contest. Xander might understand moral issues better than Angel, but he didn't understand women or status.

"Then give him yours. It's about time you moved into Angel's room anyway."

"Really, I don't mind a guest—" Wesley was cut off.

"But you've already moved in with Spike... or Spike moved in with you... but there's an extra room whichever way you look at it."

"And there will still be an extra room when Wesley is in your old room and you move in with Angel." Cordelia's expression turned sharp, and maybe Xander knew he was out of his depth because he looked over at Angel for help. However, Angel had lived long enough to know that he was not going to contradict Cordelia unless it were an issue worth the suffering she would inevitably cause.

"Not to interrupt your argument," Graham said as he walked in, "but are you saying that you bought Wesley?" His voice rose on the word 'bought.'

"Soddin' right we did," Spike offered cheerfully. Too cheerfully. Xander glared at him again.

"Wait. You bought like with money?" Cordelia started glaring at Spike, but she turned her glare on Angel within seconds.

"Yes, with money," Angel said firmly. He wouldn't debate rooms, but he would defend his right to bring Wesley home. "We'll be fine." From the look Cordelia gave him, she didn't believe him, but she would wait until they were alone because she lectured him again about how money just didn't last like it had in 1750.

"No worries, luv. It's more like we leased to own."

"Leased?" Graham crossed his arms. Angel desperately wanted to just go upstairs and avoid all these condemning looks and the scent of frustration and the feelings that were dredged up from his own soul when he was around his humans too much.

"I assure you, I will pay my own way." Wesley straightened up. "I have made this error, and I will not ask others to cover for my inability to correctly translate a verb. The thought had occurred to me that the salary he was offering was rather impressive for someone who had not yet proven his abilities." Wesley sighed. "I guess I should be grateful that my translation services do bring in a significant income. I shudder to think what U'talaba would have done had I not met my weekly quota."

Xander leaned closer. "Hey, anyone could have confused quota and salary. Salary, minimum quota, yep, very confusable."

Angel loved Xander, but even he had to admit that sometimes Xander's attempts at reassurance left him doubting whether Xander's logic had ever fully formed. From the way Wesley was looking at Xander, he was wondering the same thing.

Spike snorted. "Simple enough, mate. He would have chained ya up and taken a whip to you until you decided to work harder. And seeing as how you signed your name on a contract with a binding spell, you couldn't have done much to stop him. And you'd bloody well better pay your way here, too. If I hear about you not bringing in enough to cover U'talaba's fees, I'll take it out on your hide."

"No you won't," Xander said firmly. "Wesley, ignore Spike. If he gets too pissy, I'll just accidentally on purpose cut off the electricity in the middle of Passions."

"You soddin' little..."

"You two can verbally castrate each other late," Cordelia cut them off. "As the person who has to make the bank happy, someone needs to explain what happened in short sentences that actually make sense."

Angel looked around the room. Wesley had sagged again, so clearly he was not going to be telling the story and Xander was not the person to tell anything without causing more confusion. Spike opened his mouth, and Angel spoke up before Spike could say something that made everything worse. One wrong word and Wesley just might cry and Graham looked about ready to pull a gun and attempt a rescue, not that a rescue would actually help Wesley at this point.

"When we went to see U'talaba, we found Wesley. It turns out that he signed a contract written in Pilixy that signed his freedom over to U'talaba and required that he provide translation services in return for room and board. However, we informed U'talaba that Wolfram and Hart was interested in Wesley." Angel thought he should probably feel guilty about misleading the demon, but he didn't. Besides, it would give Father Peter something for which to lecture him. "With Wolfram and Hart wanting to take Wesley, U'talaba decided that it was dangerous to have such a valuable slave in a place with minimal security, so we made an agreement. We're going to provide room, board, and security, and we'll keep Wesley here and in return we'll keep most of the fees Wesley collects from his translations and send a percentage back to U'talaba."

"So we're renting Wesley?" Faith asked, clearly confused.

"We're keeping him for U'talaba, but the contract allows us to buy him outright after two years."

"He's a slaver?" Graham demanded.

"No," Angel said quickly, before Graham could decide to declare a holy war. "He believed that Wesley had enslaved himself voluntarily, but Wesley thought he had signed an employment contract and that as soon as he got caught up with the work, he would collect his salary."

"Which was clearly foolhardy," Wesley offered. "To fail as a watcher is one thing, but to accidentally enslave oneself is unforgivable. It also provides evidence to justify my father's opinion of me." Wesley pulled his glasses off. "Considering the trouble you have all gone to, I assure you that I will continue to work any translations to pay any costs until U'talaba is paid." He cleaned his glasses with the bottom of his shirt, and Angel found himself feeling an odd sort of sympathy.

Xander gave Angel a pleading look, like he wanted Angel to do something to make this better, but Angel had no idea what he should be doing.

Xander sighed and then looked at Wesley. "With the exception of Spike and Graham who have weirdly supportive families... okay, they both have dead families, but they were Cleaver-family supportive back before they were dead. And with the exception of them, all of us have father issues. I mean, not even therapy and years, and I do mean years, of trying to forget it, can make me get over the fact that my father sold me. He didn't even know Angel, and he sold me to him. And do not mention fathers, taxes, or phone calls in front of Cordelia unless you really want to explore masochism, and even if you do enjoy masochism, unless you want to explore death, the whole issues of Faith fathers will never be mentioned. And Angel...."

"Yes, that is in the watcher's diaries," Wesley stopped Xander from saying any more. "While I do appreciate the attempt at camaraderie, perhaps I should just get some sleep. I assure you, I do not require a large room, so perhaps you have a small guest room available?"

"I'll get the key," Graham said before anyone could argue. He strode behind the desk, his boots hitting the tile sharply enough that Angel suspected he was daring anyone to try and stop him.

"There's the room by mine," Faith offered. "Just as long as you know you are not my watcher," she said, pointing a finger in Wesley's direction.

"I assure you, I have no interest in returning to the watchers, even if Angel didn't own my contract. I really cannot imagine why U'talaba would have placed an advertisement for a slave. It really did seem that in the context I was correct in translating the word as 'employee.'"

"Lots of humans enslave themselves," Spike said with a nonchalant shrug.

Graham was coming back out from behind the counter, key in hand. He stopped and looked at Spike in evident shock. "They do?"

Spike shrugged. "All the time. Some are tired of making decisions and some are tryin' to protect themselves from some nasty that's out to eat 'em, and some are just bloody loons who have some fantasy. "

"And some are just so tired of life they don't care anymore," Faith said quietly. Angel looked at her with concern, and he noticed that Xander and Graham seemed equally as bothered by the words she had nearly whispered. Maybe she felt their eyes on her because she looked around and shrugged and formed an irreverent smile. "It's not all that different from the reasons people get into drugs. It's all about escaping life and the need to make choices when it seems like all the choices you make are wrong."

Graham took a step toward her and stopped, his hand raised like he might offer it to her. For a second, he stood there, and then he slowly lowered his hand. Faith shrugged again and then leaped off the counter. "God it feels good to be strong again. So, let's go find a room for the newest nut in the nuthouse. Oh, and if you see something in the refrigerator that's labeled 'demon only,' stay away," she warned Wesley seriously before heading for the stairs.

"She's not kidding," Graham agreed. "Come on, I'll show you the room." Graham walked over to stand next to Wesley. For a moment, Angel thought Graham might actually have to pull the man to his feet. However, Wesley gave a nod and then pushed himself up like an old man whose arthritis made every movement an agony.

Angel watched them walk up the stairs. Graham's back was still stiff with repressed emotion, so Angel suspected that Graham would later track him down and demand some hard answers. Now that Angel thought about it, he probably should have focused on the vampire dens and the human slaves he knew were tucked into dirty corners all around the city. It just seemed like there was evil everywhere, and Angel couldn't keep up with all the tasks that needed doing and all the people who needed saving. He'd saved Wesley. That should buy him a few redemption points and maybe a small reprieve from Graham and his questions. However, Angel had learned that living life instead of just lurking at the edges meant that the people in your life rarely gave you reprieves.

"So, you bought Wesley," Cordelia said, her voice sharp like a knife the second Graham and Wesley were gone.

"Would you rather I left him there?" Angel asked. "You wanted help around here, and this ensures that Wesley is safe and gets you help with the library."

From the flash of guilt on Cordelia's face, Angel knew there was something there, but he was too tired to pursue it. Tonight, all he wanted from Cordelia was a stalemate; they could finish this fight tomorrow when he could mollify her with plans for a new raid. He knew he wasn't good with money, and Spike was even worse. This time, they would give Cordelia control over whatever funds they captured, and then she could make sure they weren't in financial trouble again because Angel understood unsecured lines of credit even less than he understood morality.

"I'm going to bed," Angel announced before he headed for the stairs. They should tell Lorne they were open for business again. A couple of really good tribute payments would make Cordelia happy and would cover the blimp payment. Angel still didn't understand that. He didn’t think they'd bought a blimp, but Cordelia insisted that they had a payment on one due soon, and according to her, any failure to pay it would result in dire things for the hotel. Angel signed and mentally admitted defeat. He doubted he would ever understand finances, so it was better to let Cordelia rail and rant and torture them all over any perceived inadequacies. At least that meant someone was tending to the business which Angel neither understood nor cared to understand.

Angel had walked through the door to his sitting area before he realized Xander had followed. He tilted his head and looked at Xander, waiting to see what Xander wanted.

"You do know I'm going to lose the fight with Cordelia, right?" Xander asked.

"What fight?"

"The fight over the rooms."

Angel frowned. He didn't like where this was going.

"Okay, Angel, I totally understand that you still want me to take another couple of days to wake up and realize that I don't actually like you. Trust me, though, that isn't going to happen. I used to not like you, and now that I do like you, I'm not going to go back. And by this time tomorrow, Cordelia will have found a way to move Wesley into my room, and you know it. So, I'm admitting defeat and planning a strategic retreat. I'm moving in with you tonight." Xander stopped and looked at Angel, but Angel had no idea what he was supposed to say to that. He wasn't mentally prepared for this... not yet. And yet from the stubborn and nervous look on Xander's face, Angel had just run out of time if he wanted to convince Xander to choose a better mate. Well, damn.

Chapter 28

Angel stood watching Xander shift his weight from one foot to the other, his fingers pulling at the hem of his shirt.

"Okay, this is the part where you say something," Xander said with a lopsided smile.

Angel drew a deep breath in through his nose, the scent of musk and the sour fear both pulling at instinctive parts of himself that he didn't trust—not when it came to Xander. "I just—" Angel stopped. What could he say? The truth was that he did want Xander to choose someone better—someone safer. Another part wanted to snatch Xander up and hold him so close that no one else could ever get near. The two emotions pulled on Angel until his head started to throb. He hadn't had a headache in nearly three hundred years, but trust Xander to give him one now.

"The month isn't over," Angel said, but it was a weak argument. Without a doubt, Cordelia would find a way to put Xander out of his room within the next twenty-four hours for no other reason than he suggested she give up her room. And even if she did not, the month would be up in a matter of hours. Angel had just hoped to live in denial a little longer.

"Okay, seriously, that's just lame. Lame and self-esteem damaging. I mean, Spike keeps telling me that you're attracted to me, but between my own lack of experience and your ability to look like you're sucking lemon juice every time I mention the topic of sex, my ego is suspecting my own lack of sex-appeal."

"What?" Angel could feel the shock hit him like cold air. He had never meant to damage Xander, and yet as Xander confessed his insecurity, his expression was nearly as lost as the one Wesley had worn moments ago. "I am attracted to you. You are sexually appealing." Stepping forward, Angel caught Xander by the shoulder and pulled him forward into an embrace. "I want to have sex with you." At that confession, Angel could feel his guilt rise.

"You are really good at faking disgust then. And if this is some Catholic thing, I'm calling Washington and siccing Blair on Father Peter again because he said that he would let you make up your own mind and stop with the priestly guilt trips." Xander leaned into him, and warm arms slipped around his waist.

Angel sighed. "I hurt you."

"What?" Now Xander sounded confused.

"A human would have known that you were feeling insecure."

Xander snorted. Even through the silk of his shirt, Angel could feel the warm breath sliding across his skin. "Okay, now I know you're dreaming. Angel, people are just as clueless as you. My mom pretended we were some suburban family until she had lied to herself about all the dark little psychologically unhealthy corners in the house. People are masters of blindness."

"But I hurt you." Angel stopped. He didn't have the words to explain the fear and the guilt and the desire that raged in him like a hurricane of emotion that left him unable to find his footing.

"By not sleeping with me. If not sleeping with me is hurting me, I have a pretty easy cure for that," Xander leaned back and tilted his head so that he could give Angel a playful smile. The expression made Angel's heart clench painfully. "And that's your lemon-sucking face again." Xander tried to pull away, but Angel held on and closed his eyes as he struggled to clear his expression. Most people said that he was masterful at hiding any emotion, but Xander had grown entirely too good at reading him.

"I'm afraid," Angel confessed. Xander had been futilely pulling back, quietly struggling to escape Angel's embrace, but now he stilled.

"Okay, I missed something because that's not big with the logical-type logic."

Angel sighed again and struggled to put words to the nebulous fears that raged within him. "I'm a vampire." The words were a poor explanation for all the feelings he had inside.

"And I think I noticed."

"I won't ever be... I'm not human."

"And again with the noticing," Xander agreed. He cocked his head to the side and looked at Angel like he couldn't quite understand what was going on. Angel reached up and ran a finger down over Xander's cheek. He hadn't shaved in many hours, and Angel could feel the stubble under the pad of his finger. Xander was grown, but that still didn't give Angel the right to feel what he felt about Xander.

"Crap," Xander sighed. "You never did intend to sleep with me. The deadline was you doing your thing where if you put something out of sight, it doesn't really exist and you have permission to ignore it, wasn't it?"

That made Angel flinch. "Not exactly."

"Just kinda?"

When Angel didn't answer, Xander tried to wiggle away. Angel held on. "Xander, wait."

"I think I've waited too long already." Xander put his hands on Angel's biceps and pushed with all his strength, but after a minute of being unable to loosen Angel's arms, he sagged in defeat. "Angel, please let go," Xander said in a voice too soft and too slow for any sort of normalcy.

"You don't understand," Angel said, desperate for Xander to understand.

"Then explain it."

Tilting his head back, Angel looked at the ceiling. It startled him when warm fingers trailed over his cheek, and he looked down at Xander again. "Please, Angel. I don't understand this. Or I do understand in that I don't have your experience or your muscles or your whole dark avenger thing, but this is feeling like you not wanting me. And hey, I can be okay with that... eventually, but I really just want you to let me go if you don't want me."

Holding Xander with one hand, Angel ran his fingers through Xander's hair and let his palm rest against his cheek. "I am attracted to you. I do want you. I just...." Angel took a deep breath. "I'm not the best choice. If you're with me when Anyanka shows up—"

"I want to be with you. I want to tell her that I've picked you."

"I'm not human. I'll never give you what you could have with a human."

"What? A bitter divorce and legal bills? Venereal diseases? Hey, there are lots of things you can't give me that I'm really okay with not being given."

"And if you do want a divorce?" Angel asked.

"I don't."

"You may."

"I won't."

For a second, Angel glared at Xander. The man was being obdurate on purpose. "If you do, I don't know that I could do that. I'm a demon, Xander."

"And again, I'm huge with the noticing the demoniness. I've noticed for many years now."

Part of Angel wanted to cling to Xander's words and push the guilt and the nagging fears aside and just take his boy into his bed. His cock was hardening, pressing into the unfamiliar warmth radiating from Xander's body. "I wouldn't be able to let you go. If you tried to leave, I would just hold on harder." Angel tightened his arm around Xander to make his point. Unfortunately, Xander didn't look impressed. Angel tightened his grip just a little more, just until Xander hissed in pain, and then he eased his hold again.

Instead of reacting with horror or struggling to be free again, Xander patted Angel's arm. "No offense, but who the hell is good at letting go? Willow just about got someone I consider family killed, and I'm still not doing good with the letting her go plan. I've been clinging to you for three and a half years now, and I don't see me backing off any time soon. I call my mom every week, and that's after she conspired in the whole selling me thing. See me get obsessive? Besides, if things get so bad that we want to split up, there will be screaming and the throwing of random objects, and much willingness to let each other go."

When Xander finished, he stroked his fingers over Angel's cheek, the warmth dancing over Angel's skin. "I don't know how to do this." Angel whispered the words, shame and fear and lust and love all tangling in his heart.

"You know way better than I do. I've got a grand total of two times under my belt, and that first time, I was way too shocked to actually pay much attention."

Angel shook his head. Clearly, Xander didn't understand. Reaching up, Angel captured Xander's hand and held it against his own cheek for a moment before pulling it down. "Spike was so careful with you." Angel hated admitting it, but Spike had made Xander happy.

"He told you?" Xander's voice squeaked.

Angel immediately shook his head. "He's never said anything." Angel realized his mistake as the red started crawling up into Xander's face.

"Oh god. You heard... or you smelled or something. Oh shit. You didn't watch, did you?"

Angel's mouth fell open, but before he could answer, the dull red in Xander's face had turned to a bright scarlet. "You did," Xander accused him. "You watched?" His voice cracked so that the last part of the word vanished into a squeal.

"I only saw the end. I came back early," Angel admitted. "I didn't—" Angel took a deep breath. "You were happy, so I left you alone. Just please listen," Angel asked. Xander's expression was turning mulish, and while Angel would like to postpone this, he did not want to do so at the cost of his relationship with Xander. "I've ignored this because I don't know how to do this. Xander, when I was alive, the only girls I slept with were ones I paid. After I was turned, I had sex, but I never made love." Angel's mind flashed with an image of Spike slowly stroking Xander in bed. While Spike clearly knew how to make love, Angel had never seen that side of him. With him, Spike was feral and dangerous. Drusilla had vacillated between not participating at all and indulging in masochism that would have killed a human and Darla... well, tenderness had never been a trait she sought. Had she wanted a thoughtful lover, she would never have picked him.

"But you and Spike..." Xander frowned with confusion.

Still holding Xander's hand, Angel tugged him over to the couch where they both sat. "If we had love between us, Cordelia would have made Spike choose," Angel pointed out. "We have sex and dominance and blood, we have a biological connection, but we don't have love."

"Darla?" Xander asked.

"A lot of sex and even more dominance, but never love."

Xander cringed. "Okay, kinda creepy because that leaves Drusilla and a bunch of nuns who weren't exactly getting flowers and candy from you."

Angel studied the grain on the coffee table. It wasn't the sort of sexual history that inspired trust. If Xander were to have a suitor and Angel and discovered that sexual history in the suitor's background, he wouldn't have thought twice about killing the person. "I care for you." Angel curled his fingers around his own knees. "I worry that I won't be what you want."

In his peripheral vision, Angel watched Xander reach over and rest his hand against Angel's thigh. "I just want you. And hey, I’m actually pretty okay with us fumbling through this together."

"I might hurt you," Angel warned. He would cut off the hand that caused Xander any pain, but that didn't mean that he wouldn't still hurt him by accident.

"I might hurt you. After all, I was off making assumptions and trust me, my assumptions weren't anywhere near this reality. You having issues was not even on my list of potential reasons why you were acting all weird."

Looking over at Xander, Angel studied him, searching for any sign of doubt or fear, but there was only trust in his expression. "I do have issues," Angel confessed.

"Join the club. We all have issues." Xander shrugged. "So, since we're both a little inexperienced, maybe we could just try some stuff out?" Xander's gaze slipped away, and pink returned to his cheeks.

"Some stuff?" Angel reached over and rested his palm against Xander's cheek for a moment, soaking in the heat and sinking into the scent of desire that drifted through the air.

"Naughty touching is coming to mind." Xander looked back toward Angel. Angel smiled and slid his hand down to Xander's collarbone, tracing the curve of his neck.

"Naughty touching," Angel echoed. His fingers moved down to the first button of Xander's shirt. Slipping the button free of the fabric, Angel used his fingertips to explore the new skin. Xander's gasp suggested he was on the right track. The second button pulled free, and Angel pushed the edge of the shirt back to reveal a pebbled nipple. The scent of desire now stained the air, and Angel breathed deeply. As a vampire, the smell of fear was almost intoxicating, like strong ale that made all a person's troubles fall away so that he could laugh and sing in some dark tavern. But this was the first time Angel had realized that the scent of desire was like a wine. Leaning in, Angel pressed his lips to Xander's neck, feeling the blood and the warmth and the life surging under the skin.

"Naughty touching good," Xander whispered, his voice vague and heavy with lust. Angel stilled as Xander's fingers found the buttons to his silk shirt and freed them so that Xander's warm hands could explore. A shiver ran down Angel's body as Xander brushed the edge of a nipple. However, the couch forced them to sit at an awkward angle. Angel caught Xander's hand and pressed it between his own hand and his chest. Then he stood, pulling Xander up with him.

The black of Xander's eyes had widened with lust, and Angel could smell the musk that came with an erection. While he did not have experience with tenderness, he was clearly doing something well. Angel backed up toward the bedroom, blindly groping to find the doorknob without breaking eye contact with Xander.

Once in the bedroom, Angel stopped and cupped the back of Xander's neck, pulling him close for a kiss. Xander was breathing quickly, his warm like a halo around him that Angel could slip inside. Angel brushed his lips against Xander's, feeling awkward at the unfamiliar gesture. He'd committed lewd acts that would shock the most vulgar libertine, but this was new. Xander sighed, his lips opening and Angel pressed in closer. He caught Xander's lower lip and gently nibbled at it. From the quick gasp, Xander enjoyed that.

Xander's hands pulled at the silk of Angel's shirt, and the last button broke off and made a plinking sound as it hit the wall, but Angel didn't care. Xander's heat enveloped him now, and as Xander pushed the shirt off Angel's shoulders, Angel pressed close so that he could feel Xander's heartbeat through his skin. Angel's hands sought the heat and slipped under the waistband of Xander's jeans.

"Oh god," Xander gasped, and he arched his back. Angel could feel the muscles bunch and strain under Xander's skin. Sweat gathered until Angel's hands slid across the skin like satin slipping across satin. Smiling at his evident success, Angel moved down to taste the skin where the neck and shoulder met. Angel sucked gently, and Xander's hands clutched at Angel's shoulders, pulling him closer.

"Pants. Seriously, gotta get the pants off. Now." Xander's words tumbled out and he scrambled at his own waistband.

Catching Xander's wrists, Angel stopped him. "Shhhh," Angel whispered. Holding Xander's wrists, he backed the man toward the bed. Xander went, his breath coming in little gasps that made Angel want to ravish him and taste every inch of hot skin. When Xander's legs touched the bed, Angel stopped and slowly released Xander's wrists. "Shhh," Angel repeated. He moved his fingers to Xander's waist, and Xander seemed to understand that Angel wanted to do this.

Instead of scrambling to get his jeans off, Xander rested his palms on Angel's shoulders, his fingers pressing deep into Angel's flesh. Angel smiled and slowly unzipped Xander's jeans. His underwear bulged out, the cock pressing forward. Sliding his hand over Xander's hips and then around to cup his butt, Angel ignored the jeans as gravity slowly pulled them to the ground. Only Xander's boxers covered him now, and Angel let his hands explore inside the boxers without removing them.

When Angel's fingers slid across Xander's butt to touch the hidden entrance, Xander gasped and pressed forward. Xander's lips found Angel's collarbone, and Angel hissed with pleasure and Xander marked the skin with his hot mouth. For a second, Angel lost track of his own hands as Xander gently bit down, his hands pulling at Angel's waist to keep him close.

"A mhuirnín dílis," Angel sighed. Xander's hands skimmed over Angel's back, copying Angel's explorations of seconds ago. Slipping his hand under the waistband of Angel's pants, Xander pressed his fingers into the swell of Angel's ass. Angel reached down and pulled the fly open on his pants, and Xander's second hand slipped in beside the first.

"I want to see you laid out for me," Angel whispered. It felt odd, asking a lover for something rather than taking or having something taken from him. Xander smiled at him and stepped out of his jeans. He would have gotten on the bed like that except Angel reached out and caught the waistband of Xander's boxers, holding him in place. "I want to see all of you," Angel added. He used his hold on Xander's boxers to pull him close again. The moment he'd said that, he could see the uncertainty and insecurity in Xander's eyes, and that was an expression Angel did not like to see on his lover.

Distracting Xander with another kiss, Angel pushed Xander's boxers down to his thighs and let gravity take them the rest of the way. Without ending the kiss, Angel pressed forward, using his hands on Xander's hips to guide the man to the bed.

Xander gasped when the back of his knees touched the bed. He broke the kiss and looked at Angel with such longing and love that Angel was struck silent and still as he looked at the beautiful man who had chosen him. Slowly, Xander smiled shyly and the pink rose to his cheeks. "I should have turned the lights off," he said with a half-shrug.

"No, I want to see my mhuirnín." Angel reached up and cupped Xander's cheek, tracing the shape of Xander's lower lip with his thumb.

The pink in Xander's cheeks darkened and his gaze slipped down to Angel's pants. The front was open, but they were still in place and his own underwear hid the erection that pressed forward. "Maybe I could..." Xander licked his lips and fell silent. Angel smiled and reached down to push his own pants off. Unlike Xander, he hadn't gotten rid of his shoes along the way, and now he toed them off and left his pants and underwear and shoes in an untidy pile on the floor.

Xander took in a deep breath and let it out with a uneven little gasps. Angel pressed forward, and this time, his erection pressed into Xander's stomach, nestling in the heat that gathered between them. Angel might not be able to generate his own warmth, but his body could radiate back that which it soaked up from Xander.

"I don't know what you want to do." Xander caught his lower lip between his teeth and looked up at Angel.

"Whatever you'd like, mo ghrá."

For a second, Xander looked up at him. Slowly, Xander brought his hand up to rest against Angel's chest and he ran his fingers across Angel's nipple so slowly and gently that it made shivers travel through Angel's whole body. "What do you want?" Xander finally asked.

Angel blinked at the question. He wanted so much. He wanted things he shouldn't. He wanted to not want things he shouldn't.

"No wrong answers," Xander said, his voice quiet but without a trace of uncertainty or fear. "What do you want?"

Angel looked at the place where Xander's shoulder curved into the neck. The breastbone stood out and the muscles gathered and curved seductively. "To taste you," Angel whispered, caught between desire and horror.

Xander nodded. "Please. Please, Angel." Xander arched his neck so the muscle corded. Angel couldn't prevent his demon from rushing to the front at that offering.

"I... if I do this..."

"Nearly four years, Angel. I know you. I know I want you. I know I want this." Xander pushed forward, his cock pressing against Angel's balls. Reaching up, Xander caught the back of Angel's neck and guided Angel toward the curve of his own neck.

Angel panted, nearly overwhelmed and intoxicated by the need and desire that filled the room. Slowly, he brought his mouth to place he'd earlier marked. Giving Xander time to change his mind, Angel pressed the points of his fangs against the tender skin, barely breaking through. The small drop of blood that rose to meet him was heavy with the taste of lust and a flavor Angel had never before found in blood. Using his hold in Angel's neck, Xander jerked Angel forward and Angel's fangs sunk into the muscle. Xander gasped, but before the pain could register, Angel slowly suckled. One small mouthful at a time, he drew blood up and out of Xander.

Xander's breaths grew ragged and he started squirming in Angel's arms, his sweat slicking both their bodies.

"Oh god. Oh god. Okay, can't come yet." Xander gasped between each word. His erection pressed hotly against Angel. If Xander did not intend to come yet, Angel would just have to test that resolve. Angel pulled his fangs out of Xander's neck carefully. Catching every last drop that seeped from the tiny wounds, Angel wrapped his arms around Xander's waist and easily lifted him. When the twin marks closed, Angel moved Xander to the bed, settling him down into the middle of it.

Xander threw his legs wide and reached for his erection, but for the second time, Angel intercepted his hands and caught his wrists. Squirming deliciously, Xander made a small mewling noise at the back of his throat. Angel had done this. Angel had reduced a lover to need and desire and happiness. Angel's own erection throbbed with need, and Angel guided Xander's captured hand toward it.

Not needing any more encouragement than that, Xander wrapped his fingers around the shaft of Angel's erection and started a tortuously slow rhythm up and down. Xander's cock dripped, and drop of come touched the skin of his lower abdomen and stuck, creating a thin thread that connected cock and stomach. Angel twisted his body around so he could capture that drop without interrupting Xander's delicious torture.

Angel had never touched another man's cock, not unless he intended to torture him. He'd never tasted come. Reaching out his tongue, he captured the head of Xander's cock in his mouth and sucked gently.

Xander screamed and came. Surprised, Angel swallowed, the thick come tasting of musk and blood and salt and perfection. The hot hand on his cock and the delicious taste of his lover in his mouth, Angel thrust forward into Xander's hand and came. If that was what come tasted of, Angel was not surprised Xander enjoyed enné. Xander's body radiated heat and a musk that smelled of happiness and release, and Angel moved up to lay next to his lover.

"I don't always come that quick," Xander finally panted out, his words a clear apology.

"Shhh, mo ghrá. It was perfection," Angel reassured him. He reached up and brushed locks of hair off Xander's sweat-damp brow.

Xander opened his eyes and looked at Angel with a sort of disbelief evident. His boy had become a cynic at some point. Angel reconsidered that. Unlike the girls, Xander never had been one to trust easily or assume the best of others. Maybe he had always been a bit of a cynic.

"I can be more perfect. Give me a little time to recover, and I can be way more perfect."

Angel lay back against his sheets and breathed in the scent of a happy, sated lover. "If you want, we can try for more perfect every day," Angel said slowly, focusing on Xander's expression, "but that was better than anything I've had in my life, and my life has been significantly longer than most." Angel watched Xander, luxuriating in the heat and the knowledge that Angel's needs would not be used against him and that he did not have to use their sex as a weapon against Xander. He'd never experienced sex like that. Xander rolled himself lazily toward Angel, draping his arm over Angel's stomach and resting his cheek on Angel's shoulder. He also ignored the fact that he was now laying in the wet spot Angel had made.

"We definitely have to try for more perfect... maybe a couple of times a day," Xander agreed. He sounded sleepy. Angel used a foot to hook the covers and drag them far enough up that he could reach them without having to dislodge Xander. The light over the reading chair was still on, but Angel was too tired and too happy to bother with it. He pulled the covers over both of them and closed his eyes. He wouldn't mind a couple of times a day. After all, if they wanted to be perfect, humans often said that practice made for perfect.

Chapter 29

Xander shifted lazily, half sleeping and wondering what time it was because there was light. Normally light meant oversleeping because his room was on the west side of the building. His brain was not into waking up yet. Nope. He wanted to lay in bed and feel warm and lazy and limp. He shifted and tried to pull his pillow closer, but his pillow was big and solid and definitely wasn't moving.

Blinking, Xander opened his eyes to a very nice view of Angel's back. Xander's arm was draped over the curve of Angel's back, and he had and up close and personal view of the round of Angel's shoulder with the griffin tattoo. Oh yeah. A smile spread over Xander's face as he considered how he had spent the night. Reaching up, Xander traced the edge of the griffin's wing and Angel's shoulder twitched, but Angel didn't wake up. Not wanting to disturb Angel, Xander pulled his hand back and just studied Angel.

His head was turned away so that Xander could see his hair--chunks going every which way so that it pretty much looked like Xander's own morning bedhead. A little part really wanted to reach up and run his fingers through the tangled hair, to smooth it out. Maybe when Angel woke up, he'd do that, but now he just studied the muscular curves and shadows made by the dim light filtering in through the necroglass Xander had paid so dearly for. It had been worth it to see Angel's face when he'd seen the sunrise from the security of his bedroom.

Angel grunted and shifted so that he was now facing Xander. Oh yeah, Angel was not quite as impressively perfect when he was asleep. The seam of the pillow had pressed a deep line across Angel's cheek, and his mouth was slightly open. When Xander had woken up in Spike's arms, Spike had been just as perfect in the morning as he had been the night before. He'd been so perfect, it felt slightly on the side of totally unfair. Clearly, Spike was fond of hair products. Way fond. But Spike never seemed to get the weird head clumps that Angel got... and that Xander had gotten during an ill-advised attempt to use hair gel in sixth grade. Spike was just too cool for his hair to ever clump up. He was too cool to come before he meant to or to mess up in bed or to have insecurities. Xander wasn't. Angel wasn't.

And that's what it came down to. Looking at Angel, Xander realized that he wasn't stressed boy. When he'd first woken up with Spike still in his bed, Xander had felt panic roaring through him. Had he sucked in bed? Had Spike been bored waiting for him to wake up? Was he a disappointment? Was Cordy going to eviscerate him? His first feeling had not been good. And then Spike had smiled and called him "pet" and those fears had evaporated. However, they'd been there. The fears had been lurking, and even now, Xander was totally sure he would not want Spike to go ranking him on any list of lovers. Xander knew he ranked under Angel and Cordelia and Drusilla, and there was a chance he ranked below the minions Angel and Spike sometimes visited when they really needed to go out and be demons. But the way Angel had looked at him... the way Angel had admitted that he'd never had love in bed....

Xander blinked back the emotion that threatened to wash over him. As a man, he did not get all weepy over a lover who wanted him and needed him so very much. That was way too girly, even for him, and he wasn't exactly the manliest man in his community college. He had a bad habit of noticing when people had their feelings hurt or when Lonnie, who was dyslexic, started getting all down on himself. Xander wasn't exactly sure why caring about people was girly, but according to a couple of the guys in his commercial design class, it was. And oddly, that didn't even bother him. When he was in bed with Angel, a lot of things didn't bother him. Maybe he wasn't the lover who could compete with Spike's sexual resume. Maybe he wasn't all manly. But after feeling Angel totally lose control and come from a hand-job, Xander knew he was the lover who Angel wanted.

With an odd little snorting sound, Angel shifted and threw an arm over Xander's stomach, pinning him down. The pressure made Xander realize that he was going to have to go to the bathroom sooner rather than later. Running his hand up and down Angel's arm, Xander watched as Angel's eyes popped open, the yellow of them bright, even in the dim light.

"Xander." Angel said the name softly.

"Hey."

One of Angel's eyebrows went up and small frown lines made the skin between his eyes crinkle--either that or Angel was about to vamp out. Angel reached out, but his fingers hovered less than an inch from Xander's cheek. "How are you?" Angel's eyes faded to brown, and now Xander could recognize the worry.

"Only just about perfect," Xander promised. The frown lines vanished and Angel's fingertips brushed across Xander's cheek. "Mo chuisle," he whispered.

"Either you're calling me a hushla, which is not sounding like a real word, or you're getting all sappy with the Irish again," Xander teased. For a second, Angel froze. Shit. Okay, no poking Angel first thing in the morning.

Xander reached up and caught Angel's hand before Angel could pull away. Turning his head, Xander tried to give Angel a romantic gesture, and ended up kissing Angel's thumb. He wasn't sure how romantic that was, but at least Angel was relaxing. "I need cue cards so I know what you're calling me. Otherwise I don't know how sappy I'm allowed to get with the love names. I mean, are we talking 'hon' or 'pet' level sap or should I be going for the full-blown 'sweety dumpling cheeks'?" The look of horror on Angel's face made Xander laugh out loud. "No dumpling cheeks?" Xander guessed.

"No." Angel's voice made it pretty clear he wasn't joking on that front. "Mo chuisle just means darling."

"I thought mog ra meant darling."

"Mo ghrá."

"Which still doesn't sound like the hushla you called me just now," Xander pointed out.

"Mo chuisle. It's basically the same." Angel tried to pull his hand back, but Xander clung to it and just used Angel's tug as an excuse to land on Angel's chest and sort of settle in. Peeing could wait. This was too nice to give up.

"You are such a bad liar," Xander said as he wiggled his arms around Angel's waist and settled his head onto Angel's shoulder. After a brief hesitation, Angel's arms came up around him, pulling him even closer.

"It does mean darling," Angel said, and that was his mulish tone of voice--the one that said that he knew he was so going to lose this fight, but he was going to put on a good front before going down in flames and glory. Xander just lay in Angel's arms, silently waiting for the inevitable surrender. Until then, he was actually pretty damn comfortable. "Literally it means 'my pulse,'" Angel admitted.

Xander pushed himself up on one elbow and looked down at Angel. "Is that a real Irish love word or just something weird you made up?"

"It's a real love-term." Angel reached out and caught the back of Xander's neck, pulling him down for a quick kiss. "Mo chuisle just sounds less... sappy than calling you my life and the force which keeps me going. And you will not use any terms of endearment that include the word 'cheeks.'" Angel pulled Xander in for one more kiss before letting him go altogether. "Go take care of your morning needs before we make a bigger mess on these sheets," he suggested.

"Um, good point," Xander admitted as he darted out of bed and headed for the bathroom. He had to talk loud over the sound peeing because he was going to be making a really big mess if he waited any longer. "So, since sweetcheeks is out, and can I just say I'm really sorry because Cordelia's face so would have made that worth any humiliation, what can I call you? Calling you 'my angel' sort of loses the whole dear part of endearment when your name really is Angel."

Xander's pee finally trickled off and he shook off a few drops as Angel appeared in the bathroom doorway and leaned against the doorjamb. "You could say m'fhear."

"Which means?"

Angel frowned for a second, and Xander made a mental note to look the word up on his own. Spike always claimed that Angelus had been the master of lies, but Angel had obviously not inherited that skill set. "It means 'man,' but in Gaelic, it suggests a lot of fondness."

"Ma fear." Xander tried rolling the sounds around in his mouth as he washed his hands. Angel came and stood behind him and wrapped his arms around Xander's waist. It was weird to look in the mirror and not see Angel when Angel was pressed up against his back and kissing the curve of his neck.

"M'fhear," Angel whispered, his breath ghosting across Xander's skin.

"M'fear," Xander tried again. He gasped as Angel's hands slid across his stomach, fingers spread wide. Xander grabbed Angel's wrists so that his hands moved with Angel's as Angel explored down to the curve of Xander's hip and the crease where his thigh met his body.

"M'fhear." This time Angel whispered the word right into Xander's ear, and a shiver traveled down Xander's whole body.

"M'fhear," Xander echoed.

"Táim i ngrá leat, mo shíorghrá."

Xander had no idea what that meant, but he was quickly reaching a point where he didn't care. Squirming around, he could feel Angel's erection pressing into his hip for a second. Angel hissed but didn't back away as Xander finally faced Angel. Reaching up, Xander stroked his fingers across Angel's cheek before running his fingers through that messy hair that Xander just couldn't resist. Angel blinked and let go of Xander long enough to try and smooth down the awkward clumps.

"Don't," Xander whispered. "I love it. You look so human in the morning."

Angel froze and looked at Xander for a long second, but then he slowly brought his hands down to rest against Xander's hips.

"Mo shíorghrá, I'm not human," Angel said, and the pain was laid out like a buffet for Xander to see.

"You're human," Xander said, still running his fingers through Angel's thick hair. "You're human and demon. You're Liam and Angel and Angelus. You're Catholic and issuey and the strongest man I've ever known. You're all sorts of things, m'fhear."

Angel's eyes yellowed and he sucked in a breath so fast that Xander thought maybe he'd said the word wrong and cursed Angel out in Gaelic or something. Before Xander could get too worried, Angel caught him by the back of the neck and pulled him in for a long kiss. Their erections pressed together in the growing heat between their bodies, and Xander squirmed in need and pleasure as Angel ran his teeth gently over Xander's lower lip before pulling back.

"Bed," Angel gasped.

"Oh yeah," Xander agreed. Except bed meant letting go, and Xander really didn't want to let go. His arms were wrapped around Angel's shoulders, and he didn't even remember doing that. Angel's eyes were still yellow as he wrapped his arms around Xander's waist and solved the dilemma by just lifting him up. Xander caught his heels behind Angel's thighs and held on so that when Angel tried to toss him onto the bed, Angel came crashing down on him.

The weight drove the air out of Xander, and Angel rolled them so they were both on their sides facing each other.

"Xander?" Angel asked, concern turning his eyes brown.

For a second, Xander couldn't get enough air in, and then giggles kept slipping out, stealing what air he could get.

"Are you hurt?" Angel's hands skimmed over his skin, and everywhere they touched, Xander could feel the ghost of the contact tingling through his body long after Angel had moved on to searching for broken bones in another place.

"I'm fine," Xander finally managed to get out between the gasps of laughter. Angel stopped running hands up and down, which was good and bad. Xander had definitely enjoyed getting inspected that way, but he didn't want Angel thinking he was hurt. "I'm just thinking we need to practice... lots. Lots and lots. I say we practice at least three or four times a day."

The smile was slow to appear, but Angel did finally smile. "Until we can be in bed without falling on each other?" he asked.

Xander didn't answer. He reached over and slipped his own hand behind Angel's neck and pulled him close. For a half-second, Angel was an immovable statue, but then he yielded and leaned into Xander's kiss. Xander imitated Angel, kissing Angel deeply and then catching Angel's lower lip between his teeth and teasing it for a second before he pulled back. "Can I try something?" Xander asked.

"Anything, mo chuisle," Angel agreed. Xander gave Angel his best wicked smile, an expression he'd stolen from Spike and practiced in the mirror. From the confused expression on Angel's face, Xander was guessing he needed practice on that, too. Oh well. Somehow all their fumbling still didn't bother him because they loved each other, and Xander believed that with everything in his heart.

Sitting up, Xander urged Angel to shift over to his back. Angel resisted for a second, his fingers teasing Xander with gentle touches that made shivers travel through his whole body. But then Angel slid over to his back. Propped up on one elbow, Xander started with tentative kisses across Angel's chest and then up to the base of his neck. Angel gasped and threw his hands wide. For a half second, Xander thought he had done something unhot, but then he saw Angel fisting the sheets so tightly that Xander was surprised the sheets didn't rip.

With a smile, Xander kissed his way back down until he found Angel's nipple and sucked gently. "Xander!" Angel called out, and Xander sucked a little harder. Angel's hand caught at him, pulling him, and Xander let himself be pulled up toward Angel for another kiss. When Angel's hands found his hip and started guiding him up onto Angel's body, Xander was guessing Angel planned for a little mutual rubbing, but Xander had other plans.

When the kiss ended, Xander squirmed away and planted a single kiss on the nipple he'd neglected before he focused on Angel's stomach. He kissed the skin just below the bellybutton, and he could feel Angel shiver. Angel's cock was turning dark, and the head was odd. Xander always joked about the sock puppet of love, but this was a little more like a sock puppet than Xander had noticed last night. Reaching down, Xander traced the edge of the unfamiliar skin with one finger. The sounds of ripping sheets answered him.

Before he could chicken out, Xander leaned down and traced the same course with his tongue. Salt. Angel definitely tasted salty and a little sour—like the vinegar and salt potato chips Jesse had loved. Angel let out a string of sounds so guttural that Xander wasn't sure if he was grunting or cursing in demon. Hopefully that meant Xander was doing something right. Opening wider, Xander caught the head of Angel's cock in his mouth.

Angel thrust up, and Xander had his entire mouth full before he could react. His gag reflect sent a cold warning through him, and with a shudder, Xander pulled back. Angel's head was thrown back, his neck arched and his fists tangled with shredded sheets. Okay, so Angel had definitely liked that. Xander smiled at the sight of Angel so helpless in his lust, struggling so hard to control himself.

If one thrust got Angel that excited, Xander was about to really screw with him. This time Xander got his fist around the base of Angel's cock and then took about half of it into his mouth. The sour and salt was stronger this time, and Xander sucked before sliding up and running just his tongue along the head.

"M'fhear, I'm—" Angel ended with a sharp cry as Xander sucked again, harder this time. Then come filled Xander's mouth. Unfortunately, Xander sucked just a fraction of a second too long and he got come up his nose, which was about like getting soda up his nose, which was less than enjoyable. Xander pulled back, coughing and spluttering come and making an even bigger mess out of the sheet, but then Angel had pretty much ruined them already.

"Mo chuisle, I'm sorry," Angel said, his hand running over Xander's shoulder as Xander tried to catch his breath.

"Hey, three hundred years and I still made you come when you didn't want to. Go me," Xander said with a smile. He wiped his chin and hoped he didn't look too horrible... or porny. A guy with come splattered over his face was definitely in danger of looking porny.

"So, it was a contest?" Angel asked, a smile tugging at his lips.

"We're guys. Everything's a contest," Xander pointed out.

"Then I'll have to take my turn."

"Oh, I'm easy to make come. I think I proved that already," Xander said with a self-depreciating grin. Blair said that all guys were like that in their teens, so Xander was trying hard to not get all insecure about it.

"Then I'll have to choose another challenge," Angel said with a thoughtful look that made Xander worry just a little. "Maybe we can see how long I can keep you on the edge without coming." Angel's smile widened.

"M'fhear, you are about to lose that contest," Xander said with confidence. Just seeing Angel look at him like chocolate was already getting Xander hard again. The whole come up the nose might have killed his erection, but Angel's "Xander looks good enough to eat" look was very lust-worthy.

"We'll see," Angel said. He ran a finger over Xander's cheek, and when he pulled his hand back, he had a drop of come caught on the end. Angel put the finger in his mouth and sucked at it. Xander had no idea why that was hot, but it totally was. His cock was starting to ache in all the best ways. Yep, he was going to be coming so very soon.

Angel put his hand in the middle of Xander's chest and pushed him back. Xander lay sprawled in the middle of the bed and looked up at Angel.

"Whatever you do, I am so coming," Xander pointed out. His cock was bobbing... hell, it was damn near waving. One touch, and Xander brains were going to leak right out the end of it.

"Really?" Angel had on his devious look. Before Xander could even ask, Angel had grabbed Xander's cock. Xander dug his heels into the mattress and thrust up, fully expecting to come. Instead, Angel put pressure on the base of Xander's cock, pushing a spot on the underside particularly hard.

"Shit!" Xander shouted. He gasped for air as his need to come rose and rose, and yet he didn't come.

"You did challenge me, mo ghrá." Angel chuckled, a sensual sound that made Xander squirm even harder. His eyes threatened to water, but god, Xander never wanted this to end. The pleasure and the need to come was going to kill him, but he was going to die a happy, happy boy. Xander grabbed the headboard and strained with all his muscle. He didn't really want to pull away from Angel, but he wanted to strain. He wanted to come, but he didn't want to come, and this was the going to melt his brain. Angel tightened his hold on the base of Xander's cock, and Xander gave a little squeak that represented his entire ability to talk.

"M'fhear," Angel said softly, and then he licked up the underside of Xander's cock, his tongue cooling and burning as it trailed lazily up the shaft.

"Angel...." Xander panted. Fuck this was good. This was so good he was about to die of good.

"Xander?" Angel asked in that same smug, sensual tone.

"Please, Angel. Oh god." Xander stopped as he lost all the air from his lungs. But Angel took mercy and wrapped his lips around the head of Xander's cock just as he let go of the base. Xander screamed and thrust his hips up, coming with such intensity that the world grayed around the edges.

Xander lay panting, his body slowly cooling from the lust fever that had made his brains melt. Angel settled in next to him, propping his chin up with one hand as he rested an elbow on Xander's chest. "I think we both won our challenges," Angel said. He had a milky drop at the corner of his lips, and Xander reached up to wipe it off.

"Go us," he agreed weakly. Yep, definitely brain damaged. "I think I like challenges."

"They are fun," Angel agreed. He brushed a curl back from Xander's sweaty forehead. "And I am starting to understand why you like enné so much."

"Enné?" Xander frowned at that change of topic. "Um, I like peppery, but I'm missing something."

Angel frowned and cocked his head at Xander. "I thought Spike told you what was in enné." Angel suddenly sounded like his old self—slightly bewildered.

"No, Spike gave me a stupid story about it being cooked in come...." The second the last word came out his mouth, Xander's eyes popped open in surprise. "Oh no," he said as it dawned on him that Spike wouldn't lie if he could torture someone with the truth. Angel was looking at Xander with even more confusion than before.

"Shit." Xander closed his eyes and let his head fall back to the mattress. "I am so very gay. And remind me to murder Spike later. I'd murder Cordelia since she actually let me eat it without any warning at all, but Cordy scares me too much."

Angel gave a small huff that might have been laughter as he settled down next to Xander, his leg thrown over Xander's thighs. "I'll remind you in a few hours. I plan to sleep with my m'fhear and recover from that very wonderful sex."

"I can do that," Xander agreed. He'd miss class, but right now, there wasn't anything more important than spending in bed curled around his Angel.

Chapter 30

Xander headed down the stairs. Considering that Angel was undead, and therefore didn't actually have bodily functions, he was way more fond of his bathroom than Xander had expected. Out of self-defense, Xander had abandoned the bathroom after shaving, leaving Angel to worry over his hair and sit in the bath and generally do all sorts of things that Xander usually associated with girls. Yep, Xander was not the only one with gender-identity issues. Or maybe he just had gender-conformity issues. Or maybe he'd hung out in therapy way too long.

"Good morning," Xander offered as he reached the lobby. The afternoon sun drifted through the trees out in the courtyard, but the lobby was dim. Clearly Cordelia was still on the saving electricity kick. Xander had offered to install some solar paneling if she wanted to go all environmental, but her face had done that stony-cold thing that made him run for the hills, even when he didn't understand what was making her cranky. Of course, entire demon clans had run from her after ruining sheets, so Xander was not even feeling a little emasculated. Then again, the demon clan had to worry about her sending Spike after them because Spike definitely enjoyed being the official bill collector and enforcer of all Cordelia rules.

"Morning," Graham offered. He was leaning against the front counter, pretending to watch Cordelia on the computer, but he kept glancing over to the weapons cabinet where Faith was just putting some staffs away. She had on a black halter top soaked with sweat, so Xander could understand the glancing. Even if he was gay, he had to admit that sweaty Faith in a halter top was hot.

"Good morning," Xander offered. He looked around at the crew. Spike was leaning back against the wall, one boot propped up on a chair as he watched Cordelia. Either that or he was watching Graham and waiting to rip his intestines out if Graham got too close to Cordelia. Xander was fairly sure that Spike liked Graham, but the jury was still a little out. "So, where's Wesley?" Xander headed toward the kitchen door, but then he quickly detoured when Graham raised a box of donuts. Oh yes, heaven was fried with cherry filling.

"He's still hiding in the library." Faith locked the weapons cabinet and turned around. "Either that boy is getting damp in the pants over Angel's books or he's scared to come out and play with the rest of us."

Xander cringed. That was so not good.

"I think he just needs to get settled in," Graham said. "He was pretty excited by some of those scrolls, and he's expecting some translation work from U'talaba pretty soon. Is Angel coming down soon?" From Graham's tone, Xander was guessing that was not an idle question.

"Um, hair issues," Xander answered with a shrug. Graham looked confused, but Spike started laughing.

"The sod never changes. So, how was your grand deflowering? Not that you needed a deflowering seeing as how I took care of that." Spike wiggled his eyebrows, and Xander could feel the heat gathering in his face. And he wasn't alone. Graham was turning a little pink around the edges too, but then Graham was sort of unforgivably straight.

"Yeah, Xand," Faith said as she walked over and gave him a slap on the back. "How was the big night?" Xander ducked his head, but it was nice that Faith would touch him now. There for a while, she had tiptoed around him like she expected him to start with the blaming and screaming at any time.

"Am I going to get away with saying that I am so not saying anything?" he asked with a sort of hopeless desperation.

Surprisingly, Graham laughed. Xander had thought Graham wasn't really comfortable with the gayness, but now he just shook his head like he was all amused. "These people are worse than soldiers in a barracks, Xander. If you don't throw them some sort of bone, they're going to start making shit up."

"Fucking right," Spike quickly agreed. "Now pet, I know the old sod can't keep up with me, but did you manage to get your end off with Peaches?" Spike's smirk was so wide it was just about to make his face crack.

"Well, yeah, you were really good, not that I'm comparing. Because there is no comparing the two of you. Because comparing would be bad. And you're both good in different ways." Xander knew that he was babbling, but he could not get his mouth to turn off. At least, not until Faith started laughing and Spike's smirk had vanished into a shocked look.

Spike stood up and stared at Xander with horror. "Bloody hell. You prefer him? Bloody fucking hell. It must be love... either that or you've gone 'round the twist."

"That's what you get for asking," Graham said with a laugh of his own.

"Someone's got his little feelings hurt," Faith added, emphasizing the world 'little' just a little too much. Spike glared at her.

"If you people make Angel cranky before I talk to him, someone is dying," Cordelia warned. "Do you see the vein in my forehead doing the cha-cha? This would be your warning to play nice."

Spike still glared at Faith, but at least he didn't take a swing. From the way Faith had settled into a fighting stance, she'd been ready to push until he did exactly that.

"Hey, just pointing out a little truth," Faith offered, her hands held up in surrender as she backed off a step, but she was still emphasizing the word little, which was funny because little was not the first word that came to mind when Xander thought about Spike and sex. And oddly, lots of people who lived at the hotel actually knew that. His life was officially odd.

"Bloody fucking women," Spike muttered before he turned his back and headed toward the kitchen.

"Remind me to find a toilet to clean the next time Spike wants to spar," Graham said with a laugh.

"Coward," Faith accused him in a teasing tone.

"Hell yes. Spike can kick my ass in training. So, if he's in a mood to kick my ass instead of just playing head games, I'm staying out of his way. The army specifically trained me to avoid engaging when I'm destined to end up getting beaten to a pulp."

Faith snorted and rolled her eyes, but Xander was way more interested in Cordy, who had her serious-face on—the one that meant someone died... or was about to die... or had pissed her off enough that they were about to wish they were dead.

"Cordy?" he asked. She looked up, and there was a flash of worry across her face that really seriously freaked him out even more than the death look.

"Oh, don't give me that look," Cordelia snapped, but then her face did that weird squinch-flinch that meant guilt, and Cordy did not do guilt easily. She started typing, focusing all her attention on the computer.

All the humor left Faith. "Come on, Queen C, you should run this by Xand. If anyone can get through Angel's thick skull, Xander can."

"I can what?" Xander looked around the room.

Graham raised his hands in surrender. "I am not getting in the middle of this. Right now, I am saving up any idiosyncratic credit I have with Angel for a conversation about Wesley's status. So, whatever happens, I am officially neutral."

"Okay, what are we taking sides about?" Xander frowned as he considered all the very bad things that might be lurking because it took something really bad to make the vein in Cordelia's temple throb, and whatever idiotic credit was, it wasn't sounding good from the way Graham said it.

"Can I come out yet?" a girl's voice asked. He knew that voice. He shouldn't know that voice. That voice was so very not someone he should hear from again. Xander slowly turned his head until he could see the door to the kitchen and a blonde head sticking out from behind the door. "I'm really sick of being in here," she whined.

"Harmony?" Xander 's voice squeaked. "You're dead."

"Well, duh," Harmony said, and yes, that was definitely Harmony. "I can see you're still riding the short bus."

Xander blinked, but before he could even answer that, Harmony flew backwards and vanished into the hall with a short squeal that got cut off in the middle. There were a few thumps and one really loud crack, and then Spike came walking out the kitchen door.

"You should fix that hole in the drywall in the hall, pet," Spike said to Xander before he walked over to lean on the counter next to Cordelia. Maybe Xander's brain wasn't fully awake before coffee, but he didn't remember there being a hole in the drywall.

Before Xander could say anything, Harmony followed, and her long, blonde hair was a lot more tangled now. "It's not like he takes it as an insult. He was almost cool there at the end, and now that he's gay, that totally comes with some cool points," Harmony said, and that looked like a pout on her face. "If I didn't insult him, he'd think I didn't recognize him or something now that he's actually growing some muscle." Harmony slid along the wall until she hit the far edge of the counter and then she just sort of hovered there.

Xander looked from Harmony to Cordelia and then back to Harmony several times. His brain needed restarting. Maybe the sex with Angel had caused brain damage or something.

"Oh for God's sake, just ask before your head falls off from swiveling," Cordelia finally said. She slammed her hands down on the keyboard hard enough that Xander seriously hoped she didn't break it.

"I'm still trying to figure out what to ask," he admitted.

"Just don't ask about her skill at sucking," Faith suggested with an exaggerated expression of thoughtfulness.

"Hey, that's not nice!" Harmony objected.

"Never claimed to be nice," Faith agreed.

Xander held up his hand to stop any imminent bitch slapping. "And this is me even more confused. Is it just me, or is Harmony remarkably Harmony-y?"

Spike gave Xander an amused look, but despite his poor English, Xander had a point there. He even had a good point. Vampires were supposed to be blood-sucking creatures of darkness unless someone shoved a soul in them and they turned into guilt-ridden, blood-sucking creatures of darkness. But unless Xander missed his guess, Harmony would still be decorating with pink and unicorns, which did not scream 'creature of darkness.'

"She'd better still be as harmless as Harmony or someone is going to pay for having her near my Xander," Angel growled from a spot just behind Xander's ear. Startled, Xander shrieked and just about jumped out of his skin, but Angel slipped an arm around his waist and pulled him so close that Xander had trouble getting a full lungful of air in. When he looked up, Xander could see the ridges and yellow eyes of one seriously pissed off vamp.

"Peaches," Spike offered calmly. That was impressive considering that even Cordelia looked a little shaken up, and Harmony was trying to become one with the wall.

"William," Angel answered. Oh yes, the road to badness was lined with use of original first names. Xander held his breath and waited for the explosion. Instead of snapping back, Spike just leaned against the wall and watched Angel with cool blue eyes.

"She's pretty much what you see."

"Vampires lie, William. Just how sure are you that you haven't put Xander and the others in harm's way?" When Xander opened his mouth to argue that he wasn't exactly helpless against a fledge, Angel tightened his arm enough that Xander decided that Spike was totally on his own in this fight.

"Sure enough," Spike said with a shrug.

"She came looking for me after graduation," Cordelia spoke up. When Angel tightened his arm just a little too much, Xander made a little squeaking sound and Angel eased up again. However, considering how stiffly Angel was standing, that was not the answer that he'd wanted to hear. "She came with me when I moved to L.A. and Spike helped her find a place to stay."

"I could have stayed with you." Harmony's words were little more than a whisper, but he actually found himself feeling bad because Harmony got rejected as a roomie. This was definitely new territory because most fledges did not inspire sympathy. Not even Jesse.

Spike turned and pinned Harmony with a nasty look. "No, you bloody well couldn't have. You needed to prove something."

Harmony looked down and seemed to be studying the 1925 tile work.

"And what did she prove?" Angel asked with an Irish lilt to his voice.

Spike turned and looked at Angel for several seconds before answering. The whole room had gone silent. Even Faith was standing quietly without fidgeting. "She proved she doesn't feel any need ta hunt. She bloody well proved that she doesn't feel any need to dominate humans."

"And you're so confident that you'd put Xander at risk?"

"I'm so bloody confident I'm putting Cordelia in the middle. Besides, if I'm wrong, I'm the second person you're going to skin alive and drown in holy water, so I'm bloody well putting my own life on the line." Spike squared up like he was expecting Angel to hit him for that one. Xander grabbed Angel's arms and held them as tight as he could. Whatever was going on, Xander did not need for the vamps to go off all vampy.

Cordelia looked at Xander with this expression that demanded he do something.

"What?" Xander demanded. He needed cue cards to keep up with this conversation.

"You are such a..." Cordelia sighed. "Tell Angel to play nice."

"If I understood what was going on, I might. I'm still back on why is Harmony so Harmony-y." Xander looked around, but only Graham answered him.

"I have no idea, but I'm keeping a stake under my pillow." Graham then frowned and turned toward Harmony. "No offense."

Harmony shrugged like she didn't care, but that was not a happy face. That was a face like someone had just drawn mustaches on all her flyers for the Junior High Harvest Queen back when she and Cordelia had still been working on their pecking order, and as the mustache-drawer in question, Xander knew the guilt that look inspired.

"Vampires aren't like other demons, pet," Spike offered. "We don't possess a human. We come into the body, and we pretty much take over where the human left off, only we don't give a shite if we hurt people because it's all about doing what feels good."

"Yep, I'm pretty much getting that already." Xander had learned that lesson when Buffy's date of the day had slipped Angel some drugged Jello. Angelus was pretty much exactly like Liam with his father issues and insecurities and a really bad habit of trying to overcompensate for both. But with the strength of a vampire, Angelus had been way more dangerous.

"Sometimes there just aren't any dark corners," Spike shrugged and then moved to stand next to Cordelia, catching her hand in his, and that was the first time Xander noticed she was busily shredding little pieces of paper. "Some people really are what they seem to be."

Xander frowned. He knew full well that he had a whole lot of anger at his parents. Yeah, his mom was trying hard to be the supporto-mom, and had even been all pep-talk and offers of cookies when he'd told her he was gay. He still had anger issues. And he was not going to look too closely at the box marked "Faith" because he did still have a few issues with what she had done. Yeah, he forgave her because she'd been hurting and when she'd tried to reach out for Spike's reassurance, Spike had missed the signs that she was hurting under all the bravado. However, if someone turned off his conscience, Xander suspected his vampire him would have a few words with her. Actually, his vampire him would have a few words with a whole lot of people. Most of his high school teachers would be in serious shit. They'd all let him think he was an idiot, but his community college scores did not exactly support that conclusion.

"Wait," Xander said as he finally put the pieces together. "Do you mean that Harmony with the demon is pretty much Harmony without the demon because we always saw the real Harmony?"

"Exactly, pet," Spike agreed.

"I'm not sure what to even say about that," Xander said softly. Harmony was still scrunched back against the wall looking a whole lot like Harmony, so a little part of him was ready to buy the story.

"I'm tempted to say that's almost sad," Faith said softly. The fact that Harmony didn't even stick up for herself was the part that Xander was feeling was more than a little sad. Harmony was always a pleaser, and there were not many people she could please in this room. Not even Cordelia was really sticking up for her.

"Is that why some vampires don't seem to turn evil?" Graham asked, suddenly all interested.

Angel answered. "It's not easy to resist temptation, no matter who you were before the demon took over." Angel and Spike exchanged a long look that suggested there was way more going on than Xander understood.

"Convince me that she isn't a danger." Angel sounded cranky, but he had loosened his arm around Xander's waist, and that was almost a reasonable expression on his face.

"I set her up at one of the suckhouses." Spike leaned against the counter. "It didn't work out, but she's soddin well proved that she's not out to eat or enslave the human race."

"Didn't work out? Why?" Angel's reasonable expression completely vanished.

"Ask her." Spike poked his thumb over his shoulder.

When Harmony's head came up, she had on a total deer-in-the-headlights expression. "What?" She sounded so much like Harmony had every time a teacher called on her for an answer that Xander found himself starting to believe this was Harmony. Angel just looked at her until she started fidgeting under his glare. "It wasn't my fault. Just because I told people they were losers for wanting someone to bite them, they got all weird. It's true, you know. I mean, I have to eat. But the losers who came in looking for someone to bite them were all... icky."

Okay, that was definitely Harmony. Xander was feeling way more comfortable having her around because any vampire who thought suckhouse humans were icky instead of delicious bags of walking goodness clearly had some humanity sticking to them.

Angel finally let go of Xander and stepped up to the counter so he could glare down at Cordy. "Why bring her here?"

Cordelia looked up and shrugged. "You mean other than the fact she got kicked out of her second suckhouse?"

"Still not my fault losers don't like to hear they're losers." Harmony said it softly, but from the tone, she was not backing down on that one. Yep, she was definitely still the same old Harm.

"Yes, other than that," Angel said to Cordelia. He still hadn't said one word to Harmony.

Cordelia looked at Harmony and then at Spike before she looked back toward Angel. "We need someone to help run the hotel."

"Don't you—"

Cordelia cut him off. "I am constantly trying to track down demons who owe us money or researching some weird ritual for collecting debts or trying to find the freshest enné in L.A. I'm busy doing all the things well-connected demons expect. And the others are too busy to be constantly washing sheets. Xander is going to school part-time and fixing this place full-time. Graham and Faith are constantly training and every night they're trying to help that rude little black man and his sister clear out the Badlands and now Wesley is going to be chained to his desk. We need someone to help with the work, and we don't have the money to pay a salary. Trust me, if we had money in the accounts, I would have been hiring illegal immigrants a long time ago. But we have stunning rooms, and with the cost of downtown real estate, we need to get this hotel actually running at capacity. So we need Harmony." Cordy put on her own version of Willow's resolve face. Xander had no idea that she had it down so well, in fact.

"We... oh," Angel said, and he was back to looking bewildered. "We can't hire someone?"

"With our bank account? No. In fact, we need to have a steady source of income, so I'm going to tell Lorne that we're opening up for residential guests."

"Meaning?" Xander asked.

"Demons are going to live here," Cordelia said firmly. "We have beautiful rooms, a great location, and now we have at least one staff, so it's time to bring in some money before the back takes the hotel back."

"Before the bank does what?" Xander pushed Angel to the side so he could move up to the counter and look at Cordelia. "What do you mean before the bank takes the hotel back?" Xander was suddenly noticing a whole lot of glares and embarrassed looks between Spike, Cordelia, and Angel.

"Looks like someone's been keeping a secret," Faith commented. "So, how bad are we hurting?"

"We aren't," Angel said firmly.

Cordelia didn't answer at all, and that really said something.

"Fuck," Faith said softly.

"Gunn is really shaping up as a leader. I could take a couple of nights off each week and work around the hotel," Graham offered.

Xander chewed his lower lip. "Maybe I should take a semester off."

"You will not!" Angel said with a whole lot of Irish in his voice. He turned yellowed eyes toward Xander.

"That wouldn't be enough, anyway," Cordelia interrupted. "A hotel like this would take dozens of full-time staff."

"Dozens?" Angel sounded like he was out of breath, which was odd for someone who didn't breathe.

"Although vampires don't need breaks, so maybe not dozens," Cordelia admitted.

For a second, Angel only glared. "Cordelia will be lettin' out the rooms while Spike and I do a little clean up job we've been plannin'. Xander will not quit school." Angel turned his furious glare toward Graham. "And yer not going to stop working with Gunn." Angel stopped and ran a hand across his face.

"You," he said as he turned to Harmony for the first time. "You will keep your fangs clear of any humans. If I smell fresh blood on you, someone will be sweeping you off the floor. And you are not allowed near the family wing without an escort, understand?"

Harmony didn't answer, but she nodded with this wide-eyed look that was either fear or puppy-love. Maybe both.

"She can stay—" Cordelia started.

"Down here," Angel said firmly. The look he gave her promised a whole lot of pain if she wanted to argue with that. Xander held his breath as the two had their stare down.

Cordelia sighed and looked away. "I'll help you pick a room, Harm. Xander's drywall work in the hall can wait—he'll get to work on fixing up your room just as soon as you pick one." Cordelia looked over toward Xander, but he was not Angel. He wasn't even going to pretend that he had a chance of out-queening her.

"Just give me a budget," Xander offered with a smile. Guilt chewed at the edges of his thoughts. He'd never even bothered with budgeting even though it was a huge part of the classes. When he looked though supply magazines, he had a bad habit of not even considering the price. He wondered just how much of their money problems were his fault. He cringed as he considered how much he had spent on Angel's bathtub. And Spike's room had a stereo system that most disco clubs would envy. Okay, he definitely needed to start budgeting instead of just buying two of everything that caught his eye. Hell, he had enough supplies in the sub-basement that he could probably just make do with the supplies he had, at least for a while.

Even though Xander hadn't said anything all that special, Cordelia gave him one of her best smiles, one that made him understand why he'd fallen for her in the first place.

"So I get my own room?" Harmony asked with a small, hopeful voice. "Oh! Can I paint it pink?" She suddenly looked excited. Xander might have answered, but Angel caught him by the hand and started pulling him back toward the stairs.

"Hey, can I have sex with him?" Harmony asked brightly. Xander didn't even get a chance to ask which 'him' Harmony wanted because Angel was practically dragging him back up the stairs. Oh yeah, his life was so very, very weird.

Chapter 31

Angel pulled Xander to the couch and handed over the remote control. Any time Angel not only volunteered to watch television but also volunteered to let Xander pick the show, Xander knew he was totally freaking out. Then again, Harmony as a vamp was slightly freak-worthy. Considering the number of times Xander had freaked and forced Angel to do the male-bonding thing, turn about was pretty fairplayish.

"I can dust her," Angel blurted out in the middle of Xander flipping between wrestling and some cooking show.

"You... what? Why?"

Angel looked at Xander with a frown. "You're upset. If we need help, we can hire someone. Spike and I planned to deal with Magnus Hainsley, a necromancer that U'talaba told us about. He's digging up the bodies of the wealthy and then using them to manipulate their families, and digging up attractive people to sell to demons to help them manifest in this dimension."

Xander shivered in horror. "Can I just say 'ew' here? Although, I suppose doing creepy things with a dead person is less creepy than doing that to a live one." Xander seriously needed to stop watching the news because the freaky, creepy things humans did was just as bad as anything demons could cook up. "So, rich bad guy?" Xander asked. "And you're going after him for the money?"

Angel's frown deepened. Yep, scratch the surface and Angel's guilt showed up right on time.

"Which is fair if the bad guy is bad enough that you would go after him even without the money," Xander hurried to add. "But I'm still not seeing what that has to do with killing Harmony. Or rekilling her. I actually got her killed already." Xander stopped. He really wished he could ignore that little truth, but he couldn't. Harmony had followed him into battle against the mayor, so if she was walking around undead, he had his own guilt to deal with. Angel reached out and caught Xander's hand.

"She chose to fight. That wasn't your fault."

"Hey, if you get to keep all your irrational guilt, so do I," Xander said. But he squeezed Angel's hand back. His head—and Riley and Graham and Buffy and Angel—had all told him that it wasn't his fault, but that didn't really help his heart. He had no idea how guys like Riley and Graham did it because he would never go into the military where he had to face life and death stuff every day... not that Buffy had ever been giving a choice. Buffy or Faith. And truthfully, Harmony hadn't really had a choice either because she'd always been a follower—someone who tried to impress people and get praise and if showing school spirit meant picking up a stake and fighting monsters, she'd do it without even thinking about the whole possibly dying part. She'd be crushed by getting left out, which in her mind was probably way worse than being dead.

"But seriously, Angel, I'm not really big on staking Harmony—not unless you think she's some sort of super secret agent uber-vamp planning to kill us all in our sleep."

The look Angel gave him made it pretty clear he didn't buy that, which meant that Xander's whole theory of vamps was pretty much blown because he'd never really thought of a vampire turning out pretty much harmless. Angel pulled Xander closer and slipped an arm around his shoulders. "I've seen it before—vampires who just didn't have any dark tendencies before they were turned. It's rare, but it happens." A quick twist of Angel's mouth also suggested that he was remembering someone other than Harmony. "But that doesn't mean she's harmless. She will try to eat you if she's hungry."

"She may try to eat random guy off the street, but not even Harmony is dumb enough to try and eat me," Xander pointed out.

"So you aren't worried about having her around? Scared?" Angel asked with such earnestness that Xander was almost offended.

"Hey, I’m not exactly chopped liver." Xander jabbed Angel with an elbow. "I can take out a fledge. What is up with you assuming I'm freaking over having a fledge in the house? I mean, yeah, I'm freaking over Harmony being here, but I'm not freaking about fledges in general."

"You smell distressed."

"And again with the vampy weirdness. Have I not pointed out that the sniffing is oddly inappropriate?"

"A few hundred times," Angel admitted. However, he wasn't promising to avoid any future sniffing.

"Yeah, well your sniffer may sniff good, but your logic circuits are all wonky. I am not afraid of Harmony. I'm distressed over this stuff with Cordelia and money and thinking maybe I've been spending way too much of it."

"You've done a wonderful job with the hotel."

"I've done a spectacular job," Xander corrected him, "but that is not to say that I've been careful with the money. But then, I didn't know we should be careful with the money—which was slightly stupid of me, but then...." Xander shrugged. He wasn't known for being good at picking things up on his own, not unless it included power tools and wood. "So I'm oddly okay with having Harmony around, but I'm not at all happy about being unlooplike on the money front. Did you plan to tell me we were in trouble?"

"Cordelia just worries."

"Well, duh. Geez, Angel. Her dad totally ruined her life by losing all their money. I think she's going to have issues over you losing all our money... or me spending all our money because I'm starting to think that I might have helped on the whole losing of the money front."

"It's not your fault," Angel hurried to reassure him.

"No, it's yours," Xander said. Angel sat up, clearly surprised at that. Then again, Xander was usually more for reassuring Angel, but this time, Angel had really stuck his foot in a big pile of steaming stupid. "You should have told me. I was spending money like we had huge piles of treasure, mostly because I thought we had big piles of treasure. And Cordelia should not have to worry about things like mortgages by herself. Not when money stresses her out so much. Angel, if Spike hadn't been paying for her apartment, what do you think she would have been using for money?"

Angel opened his mouth, but then closed it again without answering.

"Exactly. And Cordelia without money would not have been good. I mean, some of us have been raised from birth on poverty. I know how to shop at Goodwill and work crap jobs. Cordelia—not so much. Money is going to make her cranky. Or, more to the point, the lack of money is going to make her cranky. It will make her cranky and unCordeliaish, and as much as I sometimes wish she would pull her claws back a little bit, I don't actually want her to change."

"Not having money would change her?" Angel frowned. Clearly they had entered new territory. Then again, Liam had died before he had to worry about bills and mortgages--assuming they had mortgages in the 1700's.

"In ways I don't want to think about," Xander agreed. "I have no idea whether she'd turn all shrewish and criminal or if she'd be all insecure, but she'd be unCordeliaish. And if she's afraid the rest of us are going to put her in the poorhouse, bad things are going to happen."

Angel slowly nodded, like he was still trying to process that one. "Should I worry about money more?"

"Definitely. I think we all need to be worrying about money more. So, if we're taking in permanent residents, I'm just as happy to have someone around to wash the sheets. I'm just worried that all our sheets are going to be pink or get shrunk or shredded or something. I'm not really thinking of Harmony as the best choice of maids."

"She'll do what she's told unless she wants Spike to deal with her," Angel said firmly. And that was where Xander just didn't want to go. Yeah, Harmony was officially all vamp now, which put her under vamp rules, and vamp rules included blood and beatings--even when the vamps liked each other--but Xander was not going to let his brain go there. Nope. He was pretending than any hole in the hallway drywall came from a spontaneous attack of air pressure, not Spike putting Harmony's head through it.

Angel tilted his head in confusion, but before he could say anything, someone knocked on the door. Without waiting for an answer, the door cracked open a little.

"Is anyone available?" Graham called out without looking in. Xander felt his face heat up as he realized that Graham had assumed they'd come up for some sex.

"Really, we shouldn't bother them," Wesley protested softly.

"Come in," Angel said after giving an annoyed sigh. Xander figured they were all pretty lucky that Angel wasn't Angelus because the family could be a little annoying, and annoying Angelus was never wise. Xander tried to put a little distance between himself and Angel, just enough to stop the sex rumors, but Angel tightened his hold, tugging Xander closer until they were pretty much plastered up against one another. Giving up, Xander just leaned into Angel and let the big dork make his possessive claim.

"I don't want to disturb you," Graham started as he came around the door.

"Truly, that would not be my goal on my first day of employment." Wesley agreed, but he trailed in behind Graham clutching a newspaper. "I'm sure this can wait."

"I'm more sure it can't." Graham reached out for the paper, and Wesley reluctantly surrendered it.

"Just to make it clear, I am in no way making any sort of accusation. I am simply noting a pattern of interest," Wesley added as Graham opened the paper and held it out. Angel finally let go of Xander in order to reach out for it.

"You want us to see the sale at Bloomingdale's? I'm not THAT gay," Xander protested as he read over Angel's shoulder. He was gay, yeah, but he had his manly limits.

"The murder," Graham said, pointing to a picture near the bottom of the page. A woman's smiling picture didn't match the story, which described a woman who'd been murdered and a cross carved into her cheek by a serial killer the police were calling "The Pope."

"Vaguely insulting to Catholic people," Xander said. "And cryptically disturbing in a creepy serial kind of way." He looked over at Angel, but for a dead guy, Angel had done a good job of losing what little color he normally had in his face.

Wesley scrunched his face up oddly. "I never would have mentioned it, except that I kept dossiers on all those whom the counsel deemed a threat to the slayers."

"Which included me," Angel said flatly. Clearly, Xander was missing something. He looked at Angel for some sort of explanation, but Angel was just staring at the newspaper with his best guilt-ridden face going.

"You know I'll follow your lead here, but do you have any idea what we're looking at?" Graham asked.

"Hey, I have an idea. It's called explaining to the Xander what's going on." Xander poked Angel in the side, and Angel started like he hadn't realized Xander was still sitting there or something.

"It's what I used to do," Angel said quietly. "I've been dreaming. I thought the demon was just...." Angel stopped.

"Dreaming as in?" Xander prompted him.

"I dreamed I did this. I dreamed that I was feeding on her blood, that I was feeding on her fear." Angel pushed the paper toward Xander.

"Oh dear." Wesley started backing toward the door, but Graham just looked confused.

"But weren't you here with Xander?"

"That's a hell yes on the air-tight alibi," Xander agreed. "Angel, I know you like to feel guilty for things that you have no control over like the ozone and Cordelia, but you did not kill this woman."

"Yes, I did."

"Unless you can split yourself in—"

"I made the vampire who did this," Angel said, cutting Xander off mid-reassuring comment.

"Whoa? Drusilla is in town? Considering that she hates me, I think I'll be carrying extra holy water."

But Angel was already shaking his head. "Not Drusilla. Penn." Angel got up and was moving toward the door so fast that Graham nearly stumbled getting out of his way and Wesley fell back against the wall with a distressed little noise.

"Angel?" Xander called, but Angel didn't even stop. "Damn it," Xander cursed softly before he ran after him.

Angel was already going through the weapons cabinet when Xander got to the main floor. Cordelia and Harmony were watching with a sort of worried confusion, but Faith was just sprawled on the couch with her knife and a demon-killing expression.

"We have a job, boss-man?" Faith asked. Angel stopped, a sword in hand.

"Who's Penn?" Xander asked.

"Why the fuck are you asking after that wanker?" Spike demanded, and that was not a happy look.

It was Graham who answered. "I'm not sure, but I think Angel suspects Penn is in town."

"Bloody fucking hell. If you bring that hairy-arsed nancy-boy back here, I'm not playing second fiddle. He can bloody well take his place under me." Spike took a step forward, his body tense like he was ready to jump Penn right now.

"We're bringing him back here?" Xander wasn't sure how he felt about that because, in general, he disapproved of serial killing. And yet he had slept with two of the most famous serial killers in vamp history, which said something about his moral flexibility.

"I don't know." Angel shoved his sword into its sheath and started for the door.

"Whoa, hey, wait up," Xander said, hurrying after him. If Angel was off making the big moral choices, no way was Xander letting him go on his own. Angel's moral compass was a little rusty, and when he went listening to his own brain, stupid shit tended to fall out.

Angel stopped at the door. "You are not coming with me."

"Try and stop me."

Angel clenched his jaw, and Xander had the feeling that the vampy parts of Angel were all ready to chain Xander to the nearest surface.

"Okay, so you can totally stop me," Xander admitted. When faced with vampy insecurities, confrontation was not exactly the smart approach. He'd figured that out after Spike had sat on him about a million times. "And I know you could stop me with without lifting more than one finger, but we're supposed to be equals and you said all that stuff about being m'fhear—about us really being fond of each other, but if you make me stay behind, that's more about pushing me around and making me feel unwanted. So, before you get your vampy strength going, you need to figure out if this is a fight worth winning."

For a second, Xander thought he'd lost and Angel was about to ask Spike to hold him back or something. But then Angel's shoulders slumped.

"Faith, watch his back," Angel said.

"Hold on, Peaches," Spike interrupted. "Soldier boy's about as good as Faith, so take him."

Xander looked around, confused, but most everyone else looked about as confused as he was, including Faith and Angel.

"I can cover him," Graham said. "We should probably leave some fighters here anyway. If he's been in town long enough to kill three people, then he's heard about you and he probably knows where to find you."

"See, boy's got a point," Spike said. He walked over and stood next to Faith.

"I'm five-by-five either way, boss-man," Faith offered.

"Can I go? Maybe Penn will pair up with me," Harmony said with a whole lot more cheerfulness than Xander normally associated with a vampire.

"Graham, watch his back or...." Angel didn't finish that. He just turned around and stormed out of the hotel.

"And fun times were had by all," Xander said sarcastically. Graham gave him a half-nod before they both went after Angel. Given a chance, the big goober would probably take off in the car and leave them behind.

Angel was already behind the wheel, gripping it so tightly that Xander feared for the plastic. "So, where are we going because driving around the city doesn't seem like the brightest of plans." Xander went to get in the backseat, but Graham caught him by the arm, stopping him and getting in the backseat himself.

"I can feel where he is," Angel said, his voice sharp.

"Well that's a weird and oddly useful skill you've picked up. Back in Sunnydale when Spike first showed up, you didn't have tracking radar for Drusilla, and she was yours, right?" Xander grabbed at the dashboard as Angel took a corner so fast that Xander's life flashed in front of his face.

"I wasn't feeding well, I wasn't training. I had denied so much of my demon that I couldn't feel my own childer." Angel was still sounding on the way side of cranky.

"Can all vampires do that?" Graham asked. For a second, Angel didn't answer, and Xander exchanged a worried look with Graham. Angel was famous for freaking out, but this was a little much, even for him.

"Master vampires can," Angel finally answered. "But only with the ones they invested time in and exchanged blood multiple times."

"So Penn was a favorite?" Xander grimaced. Okay, any vamp who had been a favorite of Angelus had issues on his issues, so this was sounding unsmartlike. In fact, he was thinking that they should steer clear of Penn rather than give him an invite to Sunday dinner. If Penn was anything like Angelus had been, the humans would end up dinner. Xander wasn't worried for himself, but he glanced back toward Graham. The man had been training and could officially kick Xander's ass at this point, but no human had good odds going up against a century old vamp.

Angel didn't answer, but he mashed his foot down on the accelerator. If they didn't all die in a fiery crash, Xander was going to have to torture some information out of Angel, but right now, a change of topic seemed in order.

"Graham, any idea what the weirdness is with Spike and Faith?"

Surprisingly, it was Angel who answered. "Spike tells her how I humiliated and tortured him and how he still wanted my approval."

Xander could only blink in shock. "What? Why?"

"I overheard them. Spike wasn't saying anything that wasn't true. I did torture him. I didn't like that Drusilla chose to turn him, but once he was turned, I loved torturing him because he was the sort of man my father would have wanted as a son—obedient, respectful... smart." Angel took another corner at death-defying speeds. This time, even Graham grabbed for a handhold before he could get thrown around.

"Actually, I think they were talking about Faith's father," Graham said. "She's trying to let go of her anger and guilt and really deal with the issue. She spents a lot of time on the phone with Blair, but Spike..."

"Can relate to being tortured," Angel finished.

"He can relate to loving someone even though they hurt you," Graham corrected him. "I can't really understand what Faith went through, and Blair can listen, but he can't relate any more than I can. Spike has turned out to be a good friend."

"And I am really hoping you mean a non-orgasm friend because a Cordelia-Faith smackdown would probably take out the entire hotel and half a city block." More than that, Xander just hated the idea of the two women fighting. "I mean, Spike and Angel are sort of a separate issue what with the..."

"Sire bond," Angel offered.

"Which is unlike a relationship bond, but if Spike and Faith were having relationship bonding of the orgasmic nature, that would be world-ending bad."

"No, no orgasms," Graham agreed. "I actually think that's why Spike wanted to talk to her without me around."

"To have orgasms? Because we're back to bad."

"No, to talk about orgasms," Graham corrected him. "Faith backhanded Harmony hard enough to put her over a desk just because she asked if she could sleep with me. As a vamp, Harmony could smell that I haven't been with anyone for quite a while, and from her perspective, it was a logical question."

Angel interrupted, his voice colored with Irish. "No, it wasn't. She'll learn to respect that humans make their own choices in our clan or I'll teach her that lesson myself." Yep, Angel had on the cranky pants tonight.

"Fair enough," Graham agreed. He'd learned even faster than Xander that it really didn't work to try and argue with vampires. They just sat on you when they didn't get their way. "I suspect that Spike is going to tell Faith that if she feels strong enough to defend me from Harmony, she should just claim me herself. This is really an odd reversal of the gender roles, and I'm just glad that I have a healthy ego and lots of opportunities to kill monsters or I really would be developing a complex over this." Graham gave Xander a crooked smile and a shrug.

"If you want, you can borrow my power tools if you ever need to feel more manly," Xander offered.

"Thanks. Right now, I'm wondering how you two would feel if Faith and I did want to start a physical relationship."

"Hey, I assumed you already had one, so count me in the 'totally okay with it' column," Xander offered.

"Hurt her and I'll drain ye and leave yer body for scavengers."

Xander stared at Angel in horror. Okay, that was not even sounding like his joking voice. That sounded downright homicidally creepy. Normally that voice only came out when someone mentioned Jenny Giles.

"Understood," Graham answered calmly. "I suspect you'd have to fight Spike and Cordelia for any bloody remains you wanted to dispose of, though."

"I probably would," Angel agreed as he pulled into the parking lot of an old-fashioned hotel. "He's here."

Xander looked up and wondered what exactly they were doing. "And is this good?" he asked.

Angel stared straight forward. "He's clan," Angel said slowly. Xander cringed at that tone of voice because he completely understood. Xander's father was family, and Xander would never do anything to hurt him, even though the man was a total waste of human flesh. Maybe he had more in common with Faith than he thought—not that his father's negligence was anywhere near the level of her father's totally deservingness of death.

"Are we gathering intel or do we have an objective?" Graham asked from the back.

For a second, Angel continued to sit and stare at the hotel. "We gather intel," Angel finally said before getting out. Xander hurried to follow, Graham at his side. Angel had his dark avenger look on as he strode up the front, his coat billowing around him. Not even stopping at the desk, Angel went right to the stairs.

"Sir, sir!" the front desk staff called after them.

"We have our room number, thank you," Graham called over his shoulder before both Xander and Graham had to break into a trot to keep up. The finally reached the fifth floor, and Xander could feel his side cramp up. He definitely needed to train more. Construction was helping him with strength, but if he had to run for his life, he was woefully out of shape. Angel, of course, didn't have a hair out of place as he stood in front of a hotel room. He didn't knock. He simply stood outside the door staring at it. Right about the time Xander was going to open his mouth to ask what Angel was doing, the door flew open and a young man was standing there.

"Angelus! My God! It's been a lifetime!" Joy lit the man's face as he leaned in to slap Angel on his arms in an odd sort of greeting.

"It seems even longer than that," Angel agreed.

"We were supposed to meet in Italy, remember?" So this was Penn. He was attractive in an Oz sort of way with the spiky hair and the laid-back vibe. After seeing Drusilla and Spike, this was not what Xander had expected from another of Angel's childer.

"I remember."

"Well, I waited. Hell, I waited until the 19th century. I never heard a word about you until I heard you set up a formal court in L.A. I never thought that would be your style, old man. So, are these your own personal Renfields?" Penn looked over and gave Xander and Graham such an unapologetically sexual exam with his eyes that Xander was shocked into silence. Graham stepped forward and pulled a stake out of his pocket.

"Wow, you let them—" Penn didn't get any farther. Angel grabbed him by the shirt and slammed him back into the room. Graham hurried after them, and Xander was one step behind him. Inside, he found Angel pinning Penn up against the wall.

"You dunna talk to them without permission, boy. Understand?"

Penn brought a leg up and slammed it into Angel's groin. Xander ached in sympathy, but Angel just stretched his neck first one way and then the other like a runner stretching before a race. "Seems like William kicks harder than you do these days." Angel leaned in and sniffed Penn's neck, trapping him until Xander could see Penn sag in Angel's grasp. Clearly Penn was so out of his league with Angel.

"Yeah, I understand," Penn finally agreed. Angel smiled and slowly backed away.

"So, you've come to my town, which presents me with a problem," Angel said.

"Look, I know I should have come and paid respects to you first, but give me a little time, and I'll bring you a proper tribute in nuns. I know how you always liked them." Penn tilted his head as if he was sharing a secret with Angel, and Xander was starting to officially not like this guy.

Angel backed away until he stood right in front of Xander and Graham. "So, Xander, Graham, this is Penn. I created him in 1786."

"You turned me in 1786, you created me over the years that followed. You taught me everything I needed to know," Penn said, his head ducked low in submission. "I should have come to you, but I didn't want to come to you with nothing. I wanted to show you that I have become the great vampire you always said you could see in me." Penn moved over to the wall of his hotel room where dozens of newspaper clipping covered the wall. "The whole city fears me," he said, ghosting his hand over the wall and the articles all neatly pinned in place. Xander could see a few headlines, and they were not the sort of articles that Xander would brag about. Then again, Xander wasn't a soulless serial killer. Penn was.

"So, Xander, what do you think of the oldest of my childer?" Angel asked.

"He's... um... well—" Xander stopped, and Penn turned to snarl at him, yellow eyes glowing in the dim light.

"He is the only reason I haven't staked you, Penn," Angel warned.

"Me?" Xander looked at Angel in confusion because there's no way Xander said anything to side with the serial killer who thought grabbing up a bunch of nuns would be a nice 'I just came to town' gift.

Angel tilted his head. "You always give clan a second chance when you allow others to die."

"What?" Xander could hear his voice squeak, and Graham was looking at him with these big worry-eyes, like his psychology brain was going overtime and planning impromptu therapy sessions, which Xander totally did not need. He knew when he needed therapy, and he was not therapy-needing right now. "I never let people die," Xander protested.

"Why are you asking him for anything? He is human," Penn spat out, using the word human like a curse word.

"You let the human in the auction die," Angel said to Xander with undisguised confusion, completely ignoring Penn.

"Which one? Because I am voting 'no' to letting people die."

"The young man who wanted the mummy."

"Oh." Xander cringed as he remembered the guy. "Okay, but he was sort of bringing his own death on. I mean, when you go running at death squealing with girly joy, you kinda get what you're asking for."

"You let him die because he squealed?" Angel tilted his head as he clearly struggled to understand that rule.

Xander closed his eyes and shook his head as he realized what Angel had thought. "You thought I let him die because he wasn't clan." It was a very vampy way of looking at things.

"Well... yes," Angel said. "You accepted Spike and you let the man in the auction run to his death."

Xander walked to the bed and sat down as he realized just how far off the moral deep end Angel had just fallen. "Newsflash, Angel. People who only save family and let everyone else die... they're pretty much evil. Not slaying evil, but the sort of evil you don't sit down and have lunch and lemonade with."

"But..."

"I let the guy at the auction die because he didn't want to be saved. He was running right for evil with a big old smile on his face. It's like the suckhouses. If we went in there and staked all the vamps, those humans would be going out the next night looking for new vamps." Angel was still looking confused. "Maybe it's more like my father," Xander tried again. "He would totally take my help if by help I meant money. But he isn't really asking for help, and I can't help someone who doesn't want to be helped. So, I just don't talk to him. But Spike came to us for help. He wanted to be part of the family, and he changed to make himself fit into our lives. Even Harmony came asking for help and offering to try and change. It's the whole wanting to change versus wanting to live in evil."

"It's like Gunn," Graham said softly, stepping closer.

"The guy you and Faith have been training?" Xander asked.

Graham nodded. "He's busting his ass to do the right thing, so Faith and I spend a lot of time training his crew. Maybe other people are out there dying because we don't always finish the entire patrol, but the right thing is to help people who really want to be helped. They do. Besides, if Gunn and Alonna and Joey and the others can learn to take care of themselves, then we can hold that neighborhood. We have to choose where we can maximize our impact."

"Do the most good with the little time we actually have," Xander summarized.

"It's a solid military tactic."

"And that's way less morally creepy than just helping family, which sounds a lot like just helping yourself."

"Angelus? What are they going on about?" Penn demanded. Xander looked up in time to see Penn outlined in dust before his figure exploded and tiny bits of ash floated to the floor.

"They're just explaining where I misunderstood something important," Angel told the small pile of ash left on the floor.

"Okay, that was unexpected and yet anticlimactic."

"I have to say, I expected more fight out of a 200 year old vampire," Graham agreed.

"He always was too predictable," Angel said without any hint of sorrow at having just dusted his kid. "I'm surprised he lived this long. And he never would have asked for help or tried to change. He liked the world of hatred I showed him too much. That's why I chose him, so I wouldn't be alone in my hatred for the world." Angel reached out a hand toward Xander. When Xander put his own hand in Angel's, Angel pulled him up and slipped an arm around his shoulders before guiding him toward the exit. "Let's go home."

Chapter 32

Angel watched as Wesley slowly blushed until he looked like he might catch fire, even without Jheira using her sexual heat on him.

"Yes, well, just doing my job." Wesley stammered the words out, and Angel could tell that more than one of the women from Oden Tal were taken with him. Then again, after surviving slavery and a government that would turn them into slaves and sexual submissives by physically removing their will, the women had good cause to be attracted to a man who didn't want to dominate them.

"Your job will save many of my people," Jheira told him, leaning in to kiss him on the cheek. Wesley's face brightened even more.

"Sometimes the intel is more important that the frontline battle," Graham agreed with her.

"Battle's more fun, though," Faith added, leaning into his side. From the smell, Graham was not only satisfying her but also making her happy. Angel was grateful for that. Hopefully Graham would continue to be good for her because a break up would not be comfortable in the middle of the clan, not that he was worried. Graham had clearly waited until Faith was ready to have a relationship that was healthy. Xander leaned into Angel, and Angel was temporarily distracted from clan business by the smell of an excited and sweaty Xander. The battle with the Vigories had been short and brutal—at least for the Vigories—but Xander had actually made his first kill in weeks.

"Hey, I think the ability to control that portal so the Vigories can't follow is very much of the good. That was a seriously good job, Wesley," Xander offered.

"Yes, well, it was an impressive bit of synthesis between Sumerian and Vo'tak incantations, if I do say so myself." Wesley smiled at the group, and then nearly died of blushing when Jheira smiled back. The man might not be a fighter. In fact, Angel had nearly broken Wesley's neck himself after Wesley had accidentally tripped Xander during the battle, but he was finding his own way.

"You have all earned our gratitude. Your people have great hearts."

"Yep, that's us, all heartlike." Xander smiled and slipped an arm around Angel's waist.

"And feel free to show us your gratitude in any way you would care to, but gemstones are always a welcome tribute," Cordelia answered. Angel sighed. Luckily, Jheira was far more understanding, perhaps because she was a leader who had to care for the practical details for her people. Angel was starting to understand that having Spike to enforce demonic etiquette and Cordelia to manage money made his life infinitely easier.

"I have asked one of my sisters to bring a piece of jewelry I inherited from my family. I would be grateful if you would accept it as a proper tribute."

Cordelia gave Jheira a nod that suggested that she was happy. "And if you ever need a place to hide, just let us know and we'll get the fourth floor cleared out for you."

"I will keep your clan in mind. I hope we will continue to be allies for many years."

Harmony opened her mouth to make some comment that would probably end the alliance on the spot, but Spike walked by and pinched her arm in passing before moving to Cordelia's side.

"Ow!" Harmony loudly complained, rubbing her arm.

"I hope we meet again soon," Jhiera offered.

"Next time, just try to avoid assuming I'm one of the bad guys," Angel suggested. While he could understand her suspicion, he did not appreciate the way she'd attacked when he and Spike had gotten too close to the place where the portal was about to deliver one of the Oden Tal women. If he'd been human, the spear through the stomach would have been a problem.

Jhiera looked away, clearly chastised. That was all Angel had wanted—proof that the woman would be a little more careful about who might get caught in the middle of her war. Of course, Wesley's incantations would make that much easier since they would have a lot more control over the portal's location and who could follow. The Vigories were going to find their females much harder to track.

"Your point is well taken. Not all males are our enemies."

"Not even most," Xander added. "Lots don't even know who you are, but if you go stabbing everyone first, that makes it hard to find friends." Xander's fingers drifted over to the place where the spear had gone into Angel's stomach. The scar had lasted less than a day, but Angel was more than happy to be skewered if it meant getting such attention from Xander.

"Wise words," Jhiera agreed. "You have the gratitude of my people." With that, she gave Angel a nod of respect and she headed for the doors.

"I like them. They didn't slime anything," Harmony said cheerfully. Spike threw her a look, and she rolled her eyes. Clearly, she wasn't too intimidated, and that might be dangerous in other circumstances. Right now, they were all tired and Angel knew he was too pleased about how things had turned out to get too upset, even with Harmony's vapid observations.

"Don't you have some work?" Spike asked.

"Nope. All the sheets are washed and dried and folded and the floors polished and I got the crusted slime off the bathtub in 308. Demon strength is handy with housework." Harmony looked around at the rest of them. Angel sighed, and he figured in about two seconds, their happy little family was going to explode into violence as Spike taught her a few manners and Xander got upset about Spike's methods.

"Hey, Harmony, how about I show you how to clean the weapons?" Graham asked, neatly heading off the potential problem.

"Okay!" Harmony chirped the word out. Clearly, the demon had absorbed the girl's personality.

"You want to come with?" Graham asked Faith, slipping a hand around her waist and pulling her in for a quick kiss.

"Nope." Faith patted his shoulder. "You're on your own. I'm going to go take a long, hot bath in my oversized garden tub. Just me, myself, and I." Faith wiggled to make it perfectly clear what Graham could be doing if he followed her. But then she laughed. "You can join me after you've shown Harm all the joys of the proper cleaning of crossbow tillers."

"Can I join you, too?" Harmony asked with a bright smile. Angel felt a wave of shock at that. He wasn't sure if his demonic half was stunned that a minion would be so forward or that his human half was stunned over her casual request for homosexual sex. He and Xander had fumbled and struggled through that issue, and Harmony just stood with a hopeful expression as Faith stared at her.

"Bloody—" Spike muttered, but Faith spoke up before he could finish the thought, which was probably good because the thought was sure to be followed with a fist to the face.

"I appreciate the interest, but not this time," Faith said carefully. Now Graham looked like he was mere seconds from laughing.

"You guys have fun, but I am tired and dirty, and I have my own oversized bath waiting for me," Xander said. He moved toward the stairs, tugging at Angel to pull him along. Angel resisted for one second, watching with amusement as Xander figured out that he couldn't move Angel. Xander stopped and raised an eyebrow at Angel, waiting for him. Angel smiled and reached out to catch Xander by the back of the neck to pull him in for a kiss.

"Get a room," Faith advised them as she passed on the way toward the stairs.

"Yes, well, I have some translations..." Wesley coughed. Angel didn't stop kissing Xander until he'd heard Wesley hurry out of the room. Then Angel finally released Xander. Xander's lips were swollen and red from the kiss, and his eyes were half closed in pleasure. The scents drifting up were enough to make any demon mad with lust.

"Don't think it." Cordelia's voice was sharp and Angel looked over to find Spike watching with a thoughtful expression.

"Wot?"

"You can just stop thinking about it." Cordelia put her hands on her hips.

"Wasn't thinking of leaving you out, luv," Spike offered, ducking his head and moving closer to her. Cordelia didn't pull away, and Spike slipped his hands onto her hips and leaned in to rest his head against hers. "Would never want anyone more than I want you," he promised. Angel watched them with amusement. How many times had he seen Spike use that same gesture with Dru? But with Dru, her eyes would always seek Angelus. Sooner or later, she would push Spike aside even though he would have walked into the sun to make her happy. But now, Cordelia didn't have eyes for anyone but Spike. She had a sharp tongue, but under all that, she was as sentimental as William ever had been. They were a good pairing. However, Angel was still happy they couldn't procreate.

"Come on," Graham headed for the weapons cabinet. "You have to oil the wood to make sure it doesn't crack when those two go pulling on it with super strength."

"I miss sex," Harmony complained softly as she followed him.

"Hey, I've gone years between lovers, so I don't even want to hear it," Graham said.

"Okay, seriously, I want a bath," Xander whispered as he leaned his body into Angel's. This time he didn't try to pull Angel away, instead he just blinked up with pleading eyes.

"You do smell bad," Angel teased. Xander hit him in the stomach. "Come on," Angel said, as he captured the offending hand and led Xander up toward their room. Angel could smell the desire on Xander's skin, mingling with the sweat and the blood of their vanquished enemies. It was intoxicating.

"You did well, a m'fhear."

"I kicked demon ass," Xander agreed. "It's a little weird being so much better than someone else."

"Wesley," Angel said without emotion.

"Hey, he did good with the research and the magic and the book-type stuff."

"He tripped you."

"Okay, not be logical or anything, but I used to trip you lots. Spike once sat on me and threatened to shave my head if I didn't stop tripping him." Angel frowned as he remembered that night. It seemed so long ago. Back then, he had struggled with his relationship with Xander. Was he father figure or a friend. He had nearly driven himself mad trying to get Xander to eat vegetables after Blair had said that good parents made their children eat vegetables. Actually, he'd been able to get Faith to follow the rules, but Xander always seemed to make his own rules.

Right outside the door to their suite, Angel pulled Xander close and kissed those swollen lips again. Xander's body radiated heat like the sun, and Angel slipped his hands under the shirt, seeking that warmth. When Angel finally pulled back to allow Xander to breathe, he just sighed happily and rested his head against Angel's chest. "If we do this here, Graham is going to get an eyeful," Xander warned, but Angel also noticed he didn't try to move Angel.

"He doesn't get to see you," Angel said as he pushed Xander through the door to their suite.

"Good, because that whole thing with keeping it inside the clan? Not really for me. I prefer to keep it just for you."

"Not even Spike?" Angel asked, honestly curious. As long as he controlled the pairing, it would be normal for him to share his lover with other masters in the court.

"Not even Spike." Xander agreed. "He got all weird when I accidently implied that he wasn't as good as you in bed."

"You told him that?" Angel pulled back and studied Xander. He'd seen some of Xander's coupling with Spike, and he knew that Spike had explored sexual variations Angelus had never bothered with. More than that, Spike had experimented with pleasuring humans even before Angel had been cursed with his soul. While Angel had just tried to get his end off, Spike had been fascinated with forcing the human to come. Angelus had thought young William was finally learning the value of humiliation as a form of torture, but now Angel suspected that he might have discovered that the desire lent its own flavor to the blood. Either way, if Xander had said that Spike had more skill, Angel could not have faulted him.

Xander reached up and traced a finger along Angel's jaw. "I totally told him that because it's true. I never felt as happy with him as I do with you. Ever. Not even in the ballpark. Not even in the parking lot of the ballpark. And I really think it sorta hurt his feelings because he swore some when I said a little more of that than I meant to."

Angel felt an unfamiliar pressure in his chest as he realized Xander was telling him the truth. "M'fhear," He whispered before he kicked their door closed and slipped his hand inside Xander's shirt again. His lover was wearing entirely too many clothes, so he solved that by pulling the last two buttons free so the shirt could fall to the ground.

Now he could breathe in Xander's musk. Their room always smelled of desire and satisfaction, but it was always sweetest when it came from the source. He licked the curve of Xander's neck, and Xander tilted his head submissively. For a moment, he sucked the sensitive skin, feeling Xander squirm as his desire rose. Xander's heartbeat became the drum that measured time as fangs pressed into the flesh. If he bit too hard, his front teeth would rip and scar the skin, and he would never allow that. He would never mark his boy. No whip or scar would ever mar the perfect tan canvass.

"I love you," Xander vowed while his lover drank the blood offered up to him with such devotion.

Lorne walked into the lobby of the Hyperion hotel. Xander had really done a fabulous job restoring the old girl's former glamour. If sales went well the next quarter at Caritas, he was definitely going to see if he could borrow the boy for some remodeling over at his place. He could just imagine a 1920's art deco feel around the karaoke stage. Spike and Cordelia were at the front desk and Merl was just coming down the stairs from the guest rooms.

"Good evening gents and one very special lady," Lorne greeted everyone. Spike was watching him suspiciously, but then the job of a good enforcer was to be suspicious.

"Lorne!" Merl called out, hurrying down the rest of the stairs.

"Oh, you are looking better already," Lorne greeted him. "I told you those sewers are not good for your health. So, how do you like the quarters?"

"The room is great, and they have a basement full of mice, just like you said. The vampires are a little cranky." Merl wrinkled his nose to show his dislike for creatures that couldn't show a few good manners. That was one of the things Lorne appreciated about Merl—there weren't many demons who had a good sense of manners. God knows his own family thought manners meant you introduced yourself before you ate someone for dinner.

"The vampires aren't here to play nice," Spike said in a voice that made him sound fairly cranky. Merl just rolled his eyes, so Lorne was guessing Spike's bark was worse than his bite—at least with residents. The whole demonic community was still reeling over their attack on Hainsley. The man had been decapitated before he even knew he had intruders in the house, and vampires who would go after necromancers were either insane or so incredible good they didn't have to fear anyone. Most of the demonic community was still trying to figure out which one these two were. Either way, no one was interested in challenging them. Some of the big name players had already moved out of town.

"Harmony is nice. I like her," Merl told Spike as he passed him in the lobby.

"Harmony?" Now that was a name Lorne could appreciate. He wondered if her voice lived up to her melodious name.

"She'd bloody well better be nice if she knows what's good for her unlife." Spike had been leaning against the counter while Cordelia typed, but now he pushed himself off and strolled into the middle of the lobby with a swagger Lorne usually only saw in old Westerns when the hero and the villain were about to shoot each other. Merl just shook his head and disappeared through a door that led into a dark hallway.

"Well, Sweetcheeks," Lorne said. He tried hard not to smile as Spike's eyes narrowed in warning. "I just thought I would drop by with a little message from the Furies." Immediately all the posturing vanished, and Spike's attention was totally focused on Lorne. It was a disconcerting feeling, having all of Spike's attention that way. "Now don't get yourself in a twist. Apparently, someone has cast a little bit of a good luck spell on the hotel, something that would make everything here just a little brighter and happier. The Furies didn't catch it right away because they were shielding from the more dastardly sorts of magic. Anyway, they wanted me to ask your fearless leader if he wants this new spell blocked."

Spike looked over his should at Cordelia. "This some tribute from a guest?"

"Not that anyone told me about. Kelis just keeps sending enné since he heard it made Xander so happy. Telis'a is the only other demon who owes us tribute right now, and we aren't going to get a penny out of her until you beat it out of her."

Spike shrugged. "That's the nature of a T'sist demon. I'll put her on the list for a little reminder about the need to show respect. Could it be that family of things that slimed the stairs?"

"The Ut? No, we're still in the middle of this entire ritual with apologies and antapologies and carefully worded threats. As much work as everyone put into getting those stairs done, I'm not going to call it quits on that ceremony for at least two more weeks. Those slimy little things are going to pay for all that carpet cleaning." Cordelia crossed her arms, and it occurred to Lorne that he truly wouldn't want to cross that woman any more than he'd want to cross Spike. Hell, he'd try to hire her away from Angel, only he was afraid he'd end up someone's dinner if he tried.

Spike frowned. "Don't really like the thought of someone casting spells. Have 'em block the spell until we can figure out who's throwing the mojo around," Spike said.

"You got it. Anything for my favorite entrepreneurs." If Angel were around, Lorne wouldn't mind catching up, but Spike was not the sort of vampire he really wanted to spend a whole lot of time around, so it was time for an exit, stage left.

Lorne had passed the first double doors and they were almost shut when the sound of footsteps through the lobby and someone whistling happily drifted out after him. Images crashed through Lorne's mind: death and burning, the sun being swallowed by darkness and a dragon flying against the moon, a young man with a sword in his hand, and people called him death. He was the bringer of death and death was a mercy in a world turned hell. And Angel stood, silent and bleeding and watching death with a fondness that Lorne didn't understand until after the whistling had stopped and the vision drifted away like smoke blown by a gentle breeze. The images still clung to him, and Lorne found he had fallen to his knees. Struggling back up to his feet, he looked in through the window back into the hotel. Angel was gone; the door to the kitchen was just falling shut leaving Spike and Cordelia, once again, alone in the lobby.

A little part of Lorne wanted to just stay out of it. He could use the information to get out while the getting was still good. There were plenty of other dimensions to set up in. But he didn't like the other dimensions as much, and humans were such wonderfully entertaining creatures. Mind made up, Lorne walked back into the lobby and wiggled a finger to summon Spike. Spike did not look amused at the gesture, but he did cross the lobby.

"Angel's soul is gone. That was Angelus," Lorne whispered when Spike was close enough. Spike's eyes widened, but before he could say anything, Lorne turned and hurried out. Even if he didn't move to another dimension, it was time to vacation in one.

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