Chapter 13

Angel looked down at the empty place with a deep frown.  He climbed out of bed and went noiselessly into Spike’s room.  Spike was standing to one side of the heavily draped window, smoking, peering out through a small gap, his lean, naked form pale in the shadows.

‘I’m sorry.’

Spike didn’t turn his head.  ‘No, you’re not.  You’re horny.  There’s a difference.’

Angel came forward slowly.  ‘No.  I’m sorry.  I don’t want to argue with you, Spike.’

Spike laughed softly.  ‘Not ‘til after you’ve got your end away, anyway.’

Angel leant on the wall behind Spike.  It was hard to deny the accusation as his prick rose aching and heavy, wavering higher and higher, seeking the slim body.  He gritted his teeth, then put a hand to the middle of Spike’s back, just resting it there, as if trying to settle a startled wild beast. 

Spike turned slowly, and Angel drew his breath in.  Spike’s cock bounced on his belly, so erect that the veins on the underside were visible.  He slid his arms around Spike’s waist and nudged them together, the tips touching.  ‘What do you want from me, Spike?’

Spike closed his eyes.  ‘I’ve already told you that.’

‘You know I want you. I can hardly deny that now.’

‘No.  I suppose not.’

'I'm not good with talking.'

'Oh.' Spike put on a concerned face.  'Sorry. I didn't know that.'

Angel had the grace to smile at the gently mockery and began to play with one of Spike's nipples, keeping his gaze lowered to it, pursing his lips as he thought things through.  Spike arched slightly to the sensation but kept his gaze fastened on Angel's lowered head.

'I have too much space.'

A small frown creased Spike's forehead, but he said nothing to disturb Angel's train of thought.

Eventually, after a considerable pause, Angel added sighing, 'In my bed.  In the shower.  In my whole damn life.'

He lifted his eyes to Spike's, put a hand hesitatingly to the back of his neck, and began to caress the short hairs there with his thumb.  He moaned softly and opened his mouth wide, pulling Spike onto him, the kiss an illustration of what he'd been trying to say: that he was lonely, that he couldn't ask, but that he wanted Spike in his life.

Spike held him off slightly, made him work for his mouth, forced him to take his lips.  Angel had to snatch the kisses he wanted, and they began to laugh, and the laugher seemed even more wondrous than the fact they were kissing.  Angel leant back on the wall and pulled Spike to him, wrapping his arms securely around his waist, their cocks erect and trapped between their flat, hard bellies.  Angel pursed his lips, studying the familiar profile.  'I don't care what you think; I still think this is... weird.'

Spike grinned.  'I didn't say it wasn't weird.'

'You were the one who never wanted me, Spike.  So, why am I the one who has to prove something now?'

Spike shook his head softly.  'Do you really still think that?  Do you really think I didn't want you?  Jesus, Pet, why could I never stand to be in your bloody company?'  He paused and added, 'Okay, that didn't come out quite like I meant it.'  He frowned. 'Maybe I did confuse you.  Bloody hell, I confuse myself sometimes.'  He grinned again.  'Tell you what I'm not confused about.' He slid his hands down to Angel's groin and combed his fingers into the soft hair, just rubbing the root between the edges of his palms.  Angel groaned, transferred his hands to Spike's head and pushed him down.

Spike chuckled when he had to lower the stiff shaft to get the tip in his mouth.  It bulged his cheeks, disguising for a moment their razor-sharp edges.  Angel hung his head, watching the display, running his fingers through Spike's blond hair, mussing it thoughtlessly as he was pleasured.

Spike sucked the tip like a boiled sweet: trying to get the sweetness out.  He sucked and thumbed it, sucked and thumbed, until Angel swore and pulled him on further.  Relaxing his throat, Spike took the long thickness in further, his lips rubbing wetly along the incredibly soft covering, savouring the bone-like hardness beneath.  When he was on as far as he could, Angel pulled back, then pushed on once more, and then he took over completely: fucking Spike's face, holding him around the back of the neck, arching up into his wet warmth.  

The angle was perfect: Angel's erection hit the back of Spike's throat and slid down on each thrust.  Delicious friction stimulated the sensitive tip and a thick, sticky pre-ejaculate coated Spike's throat as wetly as his spit ran along the long shaft.

Angel's moans became longer, turning into panting and small, sensual cries of encouragement, and then he released.  Fingers dug into Spike's scalp; squirting liquid filled his mouth. Angel pushed deeper, cum running down Spike's throat.  He swallowed and swallowed, still licking and working the jumping shaft in his mouth.  He stayed on even when Angel softened, even when the orgasm was over, just suckling gently on the hot, soft knob of flesh.  He had little choice: Angel held him on as if his life depended on having his childe embraced this close, as if sharing the aftermath of his orgasm was as important as using his body for relief.

Breaking the joining, lifting Spike to his feet, didn't destroy the closeness at all; Angel pulled the talented mouth to him again and seemed to find delight in seeking himself in that warm cavern.  

They kissed again for a long time, both losing track of time passing in the delight of the other's mouth.  Angel kept his eyes open, watching Spike's expression, almost challenging him to say that this was not talking just as much as the kind you could actually hear.  He pressed Spike into the wall, running his hands over his chest and belly, drawing fluid from his erection and smearing it over the pale skin.  Still kissing, he gradually turned Spike until the smaller vampire had to twist his head around to keep Angel's mouth, until ears and hair and neck were kissed as often as lips. 

Angel cupped Spike’s cheeks in both hands, grinding them together, gently pulling them apart, sliding the edge of his hand over his anus, stimulating him.  Spike pulled his face away from the kissing and hung his head, groaning, fisting himself hard, until Angel slid his hands around and slowed him down, murmuring into Spike's neck that there was no hurry, that he wanted this to last.

Spike nodded.  Angel collected some fluid from the tip of Spike's cock, sliding his finger along the slit and then smearing it over Spike's hole: slit, hole, slit, hole; until the place of entry was wet and waiting for him.

He took his still semi-soft penis and introduced it into Spike, where it immediately swelled, lengthened and hardened enough for him to slide until root met stretched skin, until hair ground against the stretch, and until Spike tipped his head back with a long, drawn-out moan of pure pleasure.

Angel put his arm around Spike's throat, keeping his head tipped back onto his shoulder.  He put his other hand onto Spike's cock and entwined fingers with him.

They rested like this for a moment, both enjoying the intimacy and the anticipation of what was to come, and then Angel whispered, 'Ready?'

Spike didn't speak.  He shifted his feet further apart; he braced both hands on the wall, and then he said raggedly, 'Yeah. I'm ready.'

Angel let out a snarl of need, and digging his fingers into the hollows of Spike's hips, he humped him hard: legs braced, thighs jerking with the effort― humping that left nothing with which to think or analyse.  It was raw, male sex, standing against a wall, and they both revelled in it, enjoying it for what it was.  At every thump, Angel's heavy sac swung into Spike. At each thrust, Spike's cock bounced impossibly high, sometimes colliding with the wall, when he would dip and rub himself before bracing for the next thrust.

Angel could not believe how strong Spike's body seemed. However hard he pummelled him, Spike matched him: thrusting back, bracing with arms so corded and strong they felt like immovable rock to the powerful vampire thrusting from behind.

Suddenly, Angel's long, hard thrusts turned into short, rapid jerking as he brought himself to the top of that last peak before jumping off.  His thighs hardly moved at all now, just his hips sawing into Spike, shudders taking over his whole body as he crested toward release.  He still managed to slide one hand around Spike, taking his cock and beginning to fist it so fast and hard that a human man would have screamed at the violent attack.  Spike screamed— with orgasm.  His body jack-knifed, and he ejaculated, an arcing stream of cum propelled against the wall, shot after shot, joining and running down the wallpaper in trails.  Angel's panting turned into rapid grunts of pleasure as his release came, too.  He flattened Spike against the wall and dipped his head, watching the small length of root he could see, picturing the tip of his cock deep in Spike's rectum, opening and sending his seed high into his childe's body.

When Spike felt the tension run out of Angel with the dark vampire's release, he put his arms up around Angel's head, stretching back against him.  Angel leant on him, and they stayed together as Angel worked the last few drops off inside the tightness that he craved.  

Eventually, when their bodies began to ache from standing still, he eased out and patted Spike's shoulder.  'Shower?'

Spike turned and slid down the wall theatrically, sticking his legs out.  'Can you bring one to me?'

Angel laughed. 'You're younger than me. Can't keep up?'

Spike pouted.  Angel sat on the bed and shook his head.  'That look should be illegal. It makes me think things that should be illegal.'

'I think they are, Luv.'  They gave each other small, pleased looks, and then Spike added, now looking at his nails, 'Do you still think of me as your childe?'

Angel frowned. 'Sometimes.'

'When sometimes?'

'Usually when I'm being asked dumb questions.'

'Funny.'

'Shower?'

'Carry me?'

Angel tried to do just that, and Spike pushed him off, laughing.  Angel gave him an intense look and tried again. Spike fought him off again, and then they rolled, wrestling naked over the floor, inflicting some considerable damage on parts that weren't as slick and streamlined as others.  At last, Angel capitulated, but with a groan theatrical enough so that they both knew he didn't need to― that he just wanted to.  Spike straddled him a pleased grin on his face, despite knowing he’d been allowed to win.

After a moment of crowing at his victory, his grin faded into a puzzled frown, and he leant down and kissed Angel: a swift, gentle kiss before straightening again.  'We'll never be equals, will we, Angel?' He stroked the side of Angel's head.  'Not in here.'

'You're the one straddling me.'

'Yeah, but we both know that's only cus you let me.  An' take that bloody self-satisfied smirk off your face. Come on, Ponce.  Shower?'

He got up and held his hand out for Angel.  Angel took it and let Spike assist him to his feet as if this somehow narrowed some of the distance between them.

Spike seemed to shake off his introspective mood when they hit the showers, and became so irritating with soap and shampoo that Angel finally had to banish him and finish his shower alone.  That Spike stood and watched him while he finished, he found incredibly arousing— to the extent that when he was finished, his cock stood proud of his body once more: horizontal, the foreskin peeled back exposing the red head.  He leant on the doorway of the shower, letting it point at Spike.  Spike smiled and came forward, taking it in a light fist.  'I don't remember you being this insatiable.'

Angel closed his eyes to the sensation of another man's hand on him and murmured, 'I had a large family to spread myself around then.'  He opened his eyes warily and studied Spike's expression.  'Are we still in a kill-each-other place about Dru?'

Spike shrugged a small, bitter shrug that was anything but dismissal, but - Angel noted with amusement - he kept fisting him.  

After a while, Spike muttered, 'They all preferred you.'

Angel had to steady himself by grabbing Spike's shoulders, and he replied fairly incoherently, 'Buffy didn't.'

Spike looked up from his urgent task, a sheen of sweat on his brow now.  'Why do you say that? You know that's not fucking true!'

In a place where any man would find it difficult to speak, let alone lie, Angel panted raggedly, 'She trusted you more than me.  Trust is better than what I had with her.  OH! Jesus, Spike....' He came against Spike's belly, like spit, splattering slightly then running in long trails to the wet floor.

Spike eased down the speed of his fist but kept it there, still working him gently, squeezing the tip to milk the orgasm.  With his other hand, he rubbed the cum over his newly-washed body, trailing it up over his nipples and down to his shaft, scrubbing it into his dark, curly hair and making the short strands glisten as if with dew.

Angel sagged.  Spike took his fingers and led him back into the shower.  He washed Angel himself, not letting Angel do anything then, grabbing two towels, took him into the bedroom and dried him.

Angel stood like a magnificent beast tamed by his own exertions.  His head hung down, and he allowed Spike to turn and twist him to the drying, until with a small pat, he was declared ready for the evening.  Angel sat on the edge of the bed, and Spike stood at his side for a moment.  Briefly, so quickly Angel hardly had time to process it, he pulled Angel's head against him and kissed the soft, wet hair.  'You're wrong, Pet.  She loved you with the vulnerability of her heart.  That's the best of all love— believe me.'  With that, he went back to his own room to dress.

Spike was already downstairs by the time Angel appeared, chatting to the humans.  Angel gave him a small, private look, which was returned, and then he went to the weapons.  'What do we need?'

Wesley and Giles came over.  'All the research we've been able to do this afternoon - despite the noise - seems to indicate they may be a new demon species.'

Angel toed the ground.  'Noise?'

Wesley looked surprised. 'Didn't you hear the horns? Dreadful accident just along the road.'  Angel, still looking at his feet, didn't see the glance Wesley gave Giles, but Spike did.  The vampire gave the human an amused look and glanced at Angel.  

Wesley veiled his pleasure at Spike’s appreciation of his sense of humour and said seriously, 'So, I don't think we can predict how they might behave; a random selection of things might be best.'

They did as he suggested, selecting weapons that appealed to them and then went down to the car.  Angel drove, Spike sat up front with him, and the humans sat in the back, chatting quietly.

Spike watched the way Angel's hands moved on the wheel, until he realised he was doing this and stopped, gritting his teeth and fishing for a cigarette instead.  He offered one to Angel who frowned and said distinctly, 'You know I don't smoke.'

Spike glanced back at the humans, who appeared insensible to this small exchange, and said in an over-the-top voice, 'OH! Yeah! Sorry, Mate, got you confused with someone who was allowed to smoke for a minute then.'

Angel ignored the provocation and asked for some directions.  

When they got to the office block they suspected might be hit that night, they circled once or twice and then parked up in an alley across from the entrance, inconspicuous as a large Plymouth with four men in it could be.

Spike looked over at Angel.  'What now?'

'We wait.'

'What for?'

'For something to happen.'

'Just sit here?'

'Yes.'

'Bloody hell, what a fuckingly boring way to earn a living!'

There was a small pause, and then Wesley leant forward and asked, with an edge to his voice, 'Angel's paying you?'

Spike smirked.  'He's made me co-owner.'

'No I haven't.  Stop teasing Wesley.'

'But you are paying him?'

Angel slid down in his seat a little. 'He can't live without any money.'

Wesley leant back.  'I do wish you tell me these things sometimes, Angel.'

Spike said cheerfully, 'There's quite a lot Angel could tell you now....'  He shut up with a smirk when he saw Angel's face and went happily back to his cigarette.

Angel clenched his jaw and twisted around in his seat to look at Giles.  'Tell me what you found out.'

'As I said, we couldn't identify the demons we saw last night, which is very unusual.  Usually you can recognise traits— modus operandi, if you like.  But they were quite new.  Very odd, really.'

'Maybe they were made.'

They all turned to look at Spike, and he added, 'We 'ad one like that, didn't we, Watcher?  Adam.  Big nasty bugger who didn't keep promises.  But he was all stitched together, like, from little biddy pieces of other nasty buggers.  Course, you could see he were humanoid, but that's cus they used dead bits and pieces of those dumb marines of theirs….' He looked at their expressions and said in a suddenly cultured accent, 'Oh for the days when I discussed books and the theatre with other like-minded souls.'

Angel laughed, and Spike gave him a small, private smile once more.  

Giles said dryly, 'The less said about Adam the better, I would think, Spike? No?'

'Different vampire then, Pet.  You know that.  Saved-the-world-champion 'ere now.'

'Hmm.'

Angel frowned.  'So, you think someone is making these things?'

Wesley nodded. 'It's possible.  What would you do, Angel, if you'd made a new killing toy?'

'Test it?'

'Exactly. Where would you test it?'

Angel leant back against the door, realisation suddenly dawning.  'On people who were expendable.'

'Exactly.  And survivors who wouldn't complain to anyone— in other words, people in the same dark business as themselves.'

'You think Wolfram and Hart made those things?'

Spike suddenly said softly, 'Looks like they've come to watch, too.' They all followed his gaze to the front of the office block to see Lilah Morgan walking in surrounded by a large group of indistinct figures in dark clothing.  Angel gritted his teeth and jumped out of the car.  

'Let's go.'

They waded into something they didn't really understand, but they were used to that so went for plan A: hit demons; protect humans.  

Lilah stood at the back of the action with a couple of the demons flanking her.  Angel cast her a vicious look but was too busy with the fighting to do much more.  

Spike saw her too, and gradually made his way over to her, until he stood close enough to speak but not to tangle with her protectors.  She smiled at him. 'Hello, Spike.'

'Bitch.'

'You've joined forces with Angel?'

'Yeah.  Seems your little plan didn't work all that well.'

A dark look flicked over her expression for a moment, but then she smiled brightly. 'Don't worry, Vampire; there's always another.'  She held something in the palm of her hand.  

Spike looked down reluctantly and frowned at the small metallic blob lying there.  'That looks like....'  He didn’t finish.  She threw it at him, and it hit him in the middle of his forehead.  He put his hand up and rubbed the spot.  'Take more than that to kill me, Bitch.'

She smirked unpleasantly. 'I don't want to kill you, Spike. I want you to remember.'

He gave her a stupid-bint look. 'Remember what?'

She leaned in close, and as she spoke, what had kept Billy silent within him was broken.  The human's memories of his short life flooded Spike, her voice a soft, insidious accompaniment to the pain, gradually becoming his voice, telling him truths he'd always known: " I don’t MISS him.  I didn’t say I missed him!  I hated him!"; "No, Spike, you fuck off. Again."; " He was the obnoxious irritant"; "He just pissed me off "; "If it comes down to a choice, you are a human"; "You don’t know him.  You never met him.  Wait to you meet him and see how… wantable he is! Believe me, Billy, two minutes in his company, and I’ll be begging them to take me back to hell.  I can’t stand being in the same room as him."; "When did I start to bring you to bed like a lover?"; "Not enough to make any attempt to keep him"; "It’s you here with me now.".

From across the other side of the desperate fight, Angel saw Spike talking to Lilah.  He saw her raise her arm and saw Spike rub his head.  The next time he looked, Lilah was gone, and Spike was standing on his own, a large demon bearing down on him.  He shouted; Spike roused from somewhere and killed his attacker.

Angel fought on, keeping his eyes too much on Spike, and then it was over. 

They re-grouped at the car, Giles and Wesley going over and over their theory, seeing if it held water after this empirical testing.

Angel took Spike's arm and led him a little away from the others.  'What did she want?'

Spike shook his head.  'I think.... I'm gonna walk back.'

'Walk? Why?'

'Because I want to think.'  He looked at Angel.  'You like walking; it gives you time to think.'

Angel frowned.  'Not at times like this.  Ride with us.  I want to....' Spike shrugged off his hand and climbed into the car as if he didn't care what he did.

They were all quiet on the way back, tired and ill at ease at something they couldn't define.  Instead of helping with weapons, Spike declared he was done-in and jogged up the stairs toward the bedrooms.

Wesley watched his retreating back and said softly to Angel, 'What did that Bitch want with him this time?'

Angel was watching Spike too, and he said softly, 'I don't know, but I'm going to find out.'  Before he could hand Wesley his axe to put away, they heard a scream from the bedrooms: a loud, male scream of pure terror.