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Part 110

 

 

 

The body twitched and Xander hurried back to Angel, letting himself be led through the control room and into a hallway where they could talk.

“It’s really him?” Xander demanded immediately.  “Riley Finn?”

“It’s him.”

“Fuck!  How – I mean, where, I…”

“He was out of the country when the Initiative was blown up, I only missed him by a day, one damn day.”  Angel began to prowl.  “I’ve been paying close attention to non-human information networks since we killed those bastards.  Recently I heard rumours about a quasi-Initiative unit experimenting on demons in Africa, training them to mindlessly destroy everything but humans.  What better place to look for Riley Finn than a military-funded organisation creating a brain-dead collective ready to take out the likes of us?”

“Us?  As in…”

Us.  You have to include yourself now: you’re mated to a vampire and you’ve lost any privileges or concessions your human status would once have earned you.  I doubt they’d kill you outright because you’d be a catch – a full consort – I can imagine the fun they’d have with you.  You and Spike.”

No threat to Xander’s safety was as terrifying as the thought of Spike being re-captured by a new Initiative; he felt the shock of it ripple through him and didn’t care if Angel saw.

“I thought it was over,” he said weakly.

Angel gave him a grim smile.

“It’s never over.  The quest for power is never over.”

“But…”

“Don’t try to make any sense of it, and don’t panic.  We’re not alone in this, not anymore.  There are people like us in every state, every country, waiting for the opportunity to pick off Finn and his kind.  And it can be as simple as this.  I found out he was there, that he was planning a trip back to the States.  He made the mistake of taking a commercial flight and I had someone ready to pick him up at the airport.”

“When you say pick him up?”

“He simply thought his bosses had sent a car.  It was surprisingly easy to mock up the appropriate paperwork to allay any suspicions.”

“The driver?”

“Dusted.”

“The car?”

“Was stolen; crushed now.”

“Who else knows about this?”

“No-one.”

“Too simple, he has to be traceable.”

“I cast a few spells, CCTV won’t have recorded our operative or the vehicle, there won’t be…”

“I mean there has to something…something embedded, implanted…”

“It’s common knowledge that the Initiative stopped bugging their own operatives when demons found out how to use the devices for their own purposes.”

“But, what if…”

“Plus, commercial flight.  Airport security nowadays?  The scanners can pick up a swallowed pin head, so a microchip, or homing device…”

Xander nodded, satisfied -  albeit in a jittery, unsatisfied way – that they weren’t going to held accountable for Riley’s abduction.

“How long has he been here?”

“A few days.”

“Why didn’t you let me know?  Why not bring me here before?”

“I wanted time to…talk to him.”

“You…  Okay.”  Xander had heard about Angelus’ horrific mind games, and he couldn’t think of a more worthy recipient.  “Spike should be here.”

“If Spike saw Finn he’d know we screwed up before, that we hadn’t wiped out all the people who hurt him, and that he was never as safe as we promised he was.  I don’t think he’d easily get past knowing that; we’d be back to square one.  I don’t want to lose his trust.”

“Yeah,” Xander said slowly as he analysed Angel’s reasoning.  “You’re right, you’re absolutely right.  He has to feel safe.  He’s so much stronger these days but I don’t think it would take much…  You’re right.”

“I regret it too, Xander, that he can’t be here.”

“But he’ll have to know about this, I can’t not tell him.”

“You will tell him.  You’ll perform a Rite of Vengeance and make it an offering to your master.  That way Finn never has the chance to become a threat in his mind, he’s dead before Spike even knows he wasn’t.”

Yes, okay, Xander could see that.

“I don’t know how to perform the Rite.”

“Which is where Grandpa fits in.”

“And vengeance…  Guess that’d be pretty…vicious.”

“Which is where Grandpa fits in.”

 

The thought of Angel’s fickle conscience, Angelus’ brutality, the spectacle about to unfold, and no wonder the colour drained from Xander’s face.  Angel studied him inquisitively.

“Doubts, Xander?  You want us to justify ourselves?”

“No,” Xander assured, but Angel didn’t seem to hear, back to prowling, and when further words emerged they were low and intense.

“We don’t need to justify protecting what matters to us.  This bastard is a danger to Spike, to you, to Buffy.  Therefore he’s history.  I’ve lost…” Angel took a deep breath, forcing turbulent emotions down.  “I’ve lost too many people that I care about, I’m not going to take chances with the family I have left.”  Xander wanted to sympathise, to share his understanding of mourning, but sensibly he kept his mouth shut, determinedly not flinching when Angel spun dramatically and closed in, touching his cheek before leaning his head against Xander’s in a blatantly Spike-like manner; all of two seconds and he broke away, punching both hands into the metal cladding on the wall, remaining with his fists pressed to the indentations, body vibrating to the tune of his inner turmoil as traumatic recollections held him fast.

Xander stared at him in awe; he had glimpsed tears in Angel’s eyes.  It was as powerful an image as he’d ever confronted.

Xander went to him slowly, apologetically, picking through memories to find a gesture or a touch from Spike that encapsulated trust and need and family, because at this moment Xander wanted Angel to know how much he understood the pain, how intimate he had been with such loneliness, and how much he personally wanted to fill some of the emptiness.  Then he had it, and he smiled to himself because it was so damned obvious and always should have been.  Ignoring Angel’s surprise, he prised one bruised hand away from the wall and wriggled his fingers into the vampire’s fist, bringing it up as he lowered his head to rest his brow against the cold flesh.

“Sire,” Xander whispered, knowing the chance he was taking, knowing Angel could make the courtesy title a brutal reality in seconds if he chose to.  Angel’s fingers loosened to accommodate Xander’s hand, and then they were cosily palm to palm.  “I request your intervention on behalf of my beloved master.”

If Angel has the same contempt for ceremony as Spike he’ll laugh his ass off and I’ll never live it down, Xander thought to himself as he waited for a reaction.  Which was a long time coming.

“Your request is granted,” Angel eventually replied.  Edging the bowed head aside, he brought Xander’s hand up and kissed the back.  “My childe’s honoured consort.”  Xander met Angel’s eyes and gave him a smile, pushing all the affection he could muster into it.  “The nature of the intervention?”

The smile turned malevolent.

“Riley Finn.  I want some answers from him.  I want him to know why this is happening to him.  And I want you to kill the fucker.”

A reciprocal smile made the vampire’s handsome face more intimidating than ever.

“Whatever you want, childe.  I’m only sorry your birthday present is a little late.”

A laugh broke out of Xander before he could hold it back, but Angel seemed happy with that reaction.  Xander squeezed the hand he still found himself holding.

“I appreciate this,” he told the vampire with great sincerity.

“You will,” Angel promised, and Xander didn’t so much as want to laugh as whoop in vengeful satisfaction.  The sparkle in Angel’s eyes indicated that the human wasn’t alone in his reaction.  “Okay,” Angel purred, “this is what I want to do…”

Ready to play his part, Xander stood before Riley, staring coldly at the slumped form.  Stir and a groan, and a fresh explosion of shock coursed through Xander’s system.  Riley.  Riley Finn.  Who should be dead.  Who gave Spike up and let him be unimaginably brutalised.  Xander had been able to force the burning hatred aside while he thought Riley was dead, but with the man living and breathing before him it returned tenfold.  Not only had Riley brought Spike to harm, he’d also betrayed Xander, Willow, Dawn, Giles, the friendship they’d offered him.  He’d betrayed Buffy, and she knew, and Xander was furious that she’d experienced a moment’s guilt over this because, in the presence of someone who’d genuinely and deliberately hurt Spike, Xander belatedly came to the realisation that, over the years, Buffy had protected Spike more than she’d ever harmed him.  Riley had betrayed them all.  So much to pay for.

He stared a while longer, letting it slowly sink in, become real.  Riley Finn at his mercy.  Riley Finn in the hands of the void of mercy that was Angel.  He suddenly heard Spike’s voice in his head, the amount of times recently he’d referred to Angel as Angelus.

Angelus.  And right now…that was just.  Perfect.

The lights dimmed to create a more intimidating atmosphere and Angel emerged from the control room; Xander smiled nervously at him as the vampire moved behind Riley, carelessly yanked the hood away…  Riley Finn.  Fucking hell, Riley Finn.  The late Riley Finn.  …and at a nod from Xander a bucket of cold water was emptied over the soldier’s head, and he gasped and spluttered into consciousness.

Angel disappeared into the gloom and Xander waited.  Patiently.  Feeling the hatred swell and fill him once more at the sight of Spike’s torturer existing as more than bitter memory.  The soldier’s eyes eventually opened, squinting, blinking fast, taking a long moment to become accustomed to any light at all after being in complete darkness for days.  Another moment to focus, and Xander saw confusion, surprise, disbelief, gratitude.

“Xander?  Xander Harris?  Is that you?” Riley croaked through a parched throat.  “They got you too?”

Xander held his hands out, showing Riley that he was unbound.  A frown creased the soldier’s brow for a moment until Xander’s liberty became clear – or as clear as it could be in a mind that had been so thoroughly fucked over.  The disembodied voice had told him that there would be a rescue attempt; he’d assumed it was just another little scrap of torment.  But…  Xander Harris.  After all these years and certainly better than nothing.  Xander had found him and…was holding a cup to his mouth, giving him water that he almost choked on in his desperation to guzzle it down.

“Okay?” Xander asked impassively as the cup was emptied.  Riley nodded.  “Good.  Wouldn’t want you passing out on me.”

Riley looked around nervously, twitching fearfully, as he waited for Xander to move to his bonds, free him, but the man took a few steps away, tossing the cup aside, turning to stare at him with a calculating expression.

“Xander.  Untie me,” Riley instructed, an unfamiliar edge, desperation, heavy in his words.  He stared hopefully at Xander, less than convinced that Xander was listening, doubting for a instant that he was even there because none of the others had been real.  “We need to get out of here.  Xander?

“Actually…  We need to talk.”

“When we’re away from here we can talk as much as you want.”

“We’re going to talk.”

“You don’t understand what’s in here with us,” Riley told him frantically, voice breaking in panic.

“I do understand.  And we’re going to talk.”

Later,” Riley insisted, head swivelling urgently as he took in his surroundings, searching for the creature behind the macabre whispers.

“Now,” Xander corrected him, quite dispassionately.

Riley blinked a few more times and studied his old ally.  He hadn’t changed at all, in fact he looked less changed than when he’d last seen him if that made any kind of sense.  Except for the eyes.  Xander’s eyes had always been filled with emotion, but these showed nothing.  If they were talking not escaping, Riley wondered if Xander was being coerced into this, or was being controlled by the man – the demon, because surely no man could create such precise horrors with so few words? – that had imprisoned him here.  Or perhaps Xander had been here all along, subjected to the same mental torture, that insidious voice putting similar thoughts…  Riley closed the memories down, using all the techniques at his disposal to force the monster out of his mind – even if the tremors would take a while longer to stop.  He may have wanted to scream and sob, but he refocused.  Used Xander and refocused.

“It’s good to see you, Xander.”

It was all that Xander could do not to strike out at that friendly greeting, knowing it was Riley looking for a way out, knowing…that it might be an entirely genuine sentiment.

“I think time may be the judge of that.”

The open and amiable, inoffensive expression on Riley’s face didn’t change for a second; Xander watched the man’s training at work and seethed.  He could sense Angel in the shadows and deliberately flicked a glance, seeing a glimmer of a reaction as Riley now refused to look despite the urgency of his need.  Riley mentally pushed another button and concern appeared.

“Xander?  Is someone making you do this?  Has someone hurt you?  Threatened the people you care about?”

“No, yes, and yes,” Xander replied after a moment’s thought.

“Then untie me, let me help you.”

“Where were you two years ago?” Xander asked abruptly.  “What were you doing?  Precisely.”

Riley paused, caught out by the unexpected questions.  Not for long.  Now he had a definite something to concentrate on his wits were sharpening.

“I think I was on leave.  Miami.”

“Try again.”

“Not Miami?  Well, I guess that could’ve been the year before,” Riley answered genially, a man without a care in the world, betrayed by the persistent tremor in his speech.

“Two years ago,” Xander demanded.  Riley looked confused and shrugged.  “Two fucking years ago.”

“What do you want me to say?”

“I want you to tell me the truth.”

“I will,” Riley said sincerely, “but I’ve been here for days, and it’s been…”  The voice broke under the weight of the memories.  Riley took a deep breath.  “I’m…  I’m a little…disoriented.”

Three days compared to Spike’s six months.  Xander’s fists clenched and he took a few steps back while he could still suppress the desire to use them, glancing once again to where he felt Angel stood observing.  He wasn’t sure he could do this Angel’s way, taking it slowly and teasing the information out of the soldier, unpicking the lies like unravelling a twisted ball of string, letting Riley incriminate himself until he was ready to be strung up with all the loose threads.  He wasn’t smart or patient enough for that.  Angel must have read it in his eyes.

“Your own way,” came the whispered sanction from out of the darkness, and Riley started violently in tribute to the power of the vampire’s voice, head twisting every which way as he tried to catch a glimpse of the face behind his nightmares.

“Oh, God, we need to get out of here, we need to get away…” Riley babbled in sheer panic.

“Riley…”

“Untie me, Xander, for fuck’s sake untie me!”

“Riley!” Xander snapped as the anger broke free of its diligently manufactured restraints.  “Look at me, Riley.  I’m the one you need to pay attention to right now.”

Riley turned back to Xander, panting, studying, mind racing as he assessed and reassessed.

“You’re…you’re here willingly.  You’re here willingly.”

“I wish I wasn’t here,” Xander told him honestly.  “I wish the reason I’m here had never happened.  But it did.  Which is why you get to be here.”

“Is this…  Is this about Buffy?” Riley asked, slowing in his confusion.

“You tell me.”

“I haven’t seen her in years, Xander, and we parted on good terms, so…”

Is it about Buffy?”

Riley fell quiet, attempting to seize control of his trembling body and wavering mind.  A million techniques on how to concentrate under any set of circumstances and now he was struggling to find any one.  He zeroed in on Xander, made it all about Xander, immediately witnessing the strain of fighting back raw hostility.  Xander.  Here willingly but…  What the hell had happened?  And what did Xander imagine he’d done?

“We parted as friends.  This isn’t about Buffy,” Riley said as surely as he could manage.

“If that’s a lie…  You’ll pay.  Got that?”

Riley nodded.  Back to watching as Xander slowly paced back and forth, deep in thought.

“Tell me what’s going on, Xander.  You don’t seem yourself.”  Xander chuckled at that, and a brief snicker came from the dark; Riley jumped in his seat, turning sharply to catch a glimpse of the source.

“Okay.  What’s going on.  I have…issues.  Issues, and a desire to make life very uncomfortable for you.  But…”  Xander crouched beside Riley, bringing them eye to eye.  “You deserve the chance to defend yourself.  Tell your side of the story.  That’s only fair.”

“You’ve always been a good man, Xander,” Riley told him, a little too earnestly to sound genuine.

“How about you, though?  You a good man, Riley?”

“I try to be.”

“You try to be,” Xander repeated tightly, rising and moving away, fighting the desire to land a blow that would shatter half the soldier’s face.  “You don’t think there’s anything wrong in…let’s say…dealing with demons the way you have?”

Riley looked wary, such a specific question allowing him to ascertain in a split second that just about any answer he could credibly give was going to be the wrong one.

“I don’t make the rules about the treatment of hostiles,” he tried.

“You just implement the rules.”  Riley nodded.  “But do you enjoy your work?”  The soldier resolutely refused to answer that one.  “How about…how about the choice of subject?” Xander continued smoothly.  “You and the boys get to play pick the demon?”

“No.”

“Want to try that one more time?” Xander demanded, the mask of geniality slipping.

“Look, Xander, I want to help you, why don’t you just tell me what your problem is and…”

Riley swallowed a yelp of surprise as Xander backhanded him hard enough to knock him and the chair flying.  The moment Xander made contact he regretted it, regretted screwing up Angel’s game plan.  He could not, however, regret that pleasant ache in his hand.  As Riley opened his eyes Xander was already standing over him, shoving the toe of his shoe beneath Riley’s face and forcing the man to look up at him.  Blood trickled from the soldier’s nose onto the dark leather.

“You were wrong.  I’m not a good man, Riley.  A fair man, a just man, but that doesn’t necessarily make me a good man by your standards.  I do want to hear your side of the story, but only as a prelude to you hurting very badly.”  Xander paused, very deliberately wavering.  “To be completely honest I have a problem with that – not the White Hat thing, that’s long gone.  Regrettably I can’t make you suffer enough to make it worthwhile, so I have to back off.”  Xander saw Riley’s relief at that, and he let him have his moment.  Xander grabbed the rear of the chair and the front of Riley’s uniform, hauling him upright and arranging him somewhat more comfortably.  “I can’t make you suffer enough,” Xander smiled.  “But luckily…I know someone who can.”

Riley’s face turned grey as a game-faced Angel emerged from the shadows.

“Well, hello, Mr Finn,” Angel smirked as he strolled toward them; Xander saw the terror flash in Riley’s eyes as he finally associated the voice with the face.  “We need to have a few words about my boy.”

“Your – your boy,” Riley stuttered.

“My childe.  Spike.”

“Hostile seventeen,” Xander added contemptuously.

“The Initiative really should think twice about what they throw out with the trash.  Luckily we managed to reclaim my childe and I promise you he’ll be gracing this world when you’re dead and gone.”

“Y’know…  In a couple of hours,” Xander elucidated.

“Two hours is extremely charitable, Xander.  You have a very generous nature.”

“Thank you, Sire.”

“Sire?” Riley choked, staring at Xander with wide eyes.  “You’re a – a…”

“Human.  My use of the title is courtesy.  Family?”

“Family,” Riley repeated weakly.

As they had previously agreed, Angel moved behind Xander, running an arm around his waist and rubbing his cheek over the young man’s hair.  Luckily Xander couldn’t see what Riley could, the intense possessiveness on Angel’s face, the harsh lust at this touch.

“Childe,” Angel murmured, deceptively sweet, and Xander smiled a real smile which broke into a chuckle as the soldier’s expression wavered between confusion and repulsion as Angel dipped his head to nuzzle Xander’s neck.

“What happened to you?” Riley asked in a voice heavy with disgust.

“Spike,” Xander replied as he reached up to caress Angel’s face, enjoying just how much the simple gesture unnerved Riley.  “I fell in love with Spike.  Then you took him and…hurt him.”

Angel’s head snapped up, golden eyes fixing on the soldier, low snarl emerged from his throat.

“And now we’re going to hurt you.”

“Xander…”

“Spike is everything to me.  Do you understand how someone can mean that much?  Have you ever felt it?”

“You know damn well I have and that—”

“Yeah?  That what?  You may as well spit it out because I already have a pretty good idea.”

“Alone and bitter and so, so twisted,” Angel observed.

Riley remained defiantly silent, struggling to emotionally withdraw.

“Alone?” Xander continued.  “What happened?  You were with Sam, she was great, you were happy.”  Xander watched the soldier flinch at each phrase.  “What did you do to screw it up?”

“It wasn’t me,” Riley suddenly snapped, “it was that fucking demon.”

Fucking demon’,” Xander repeated pseudo-calmly, drawing out the words.  “The fucking demon, or…the demon…fucking?”  Xander saw the swell of fury, saw Riley contain it.  Most of it.  “So, you went back to Sunnydale.  Saw Buffy.  Saw Buffy with Spike…”

“Don’t even—”

“What happened?  You saw the woman you’d ran out on, you realised you’d made a big mistake…?”  Riley released an indescribable sound of pure frustration.  “You couldn’t get her out of your mind?  Couldn’t bear seeing her with a real man?”

“Couldn’t stop—”  Clenched teeth were unable to prevent the words from emerging.  “Couldn’t stop seeing her with that freak.”

“Mrs Finn knew,” Angel informed Xander with a smirk.  “He talks in his sleep.  Cries.  Begs forgiveness.  Most…amusing.”

The realisation of what he’d unknowingly shared with the vampire and a sob caught in Riley’s throat.

“Sam knew?” Xander pressed on.  “About Buffy?  That would have been tough for her, you’re such a selfish piece of shit.  Then what?  She could only take so much and…?”

“She left me.”  Barely audible, anger constricting Riley’s throat.

“And that’s Spike’s fault?  He had to suffer over something so…mundane?  Your wife left you so you took out his eyes?”

“He cost me everything,” Riley screamed, “everything.  With Buffy, with Sam.”

“It’s about you, Riley, not Spike. You’re the one who keeps fucking up.”

“Why are you defending him, Xander?  You hated vampires, their very existence disgusted you, terrified you.  Now you’re…”  Words failed Riley at the sight of Angel’s continued nuzzling, and Xander, with trust, without reaction…letting him.  “Sick.  And you know it.  Why else would you be here with this aberration?

Xander’s fists clenched automatically at the insult, but a twitch of Angel’s fingers was enough to allow him to retain control, keep his voice suitably mocking.

“Oh, c’mon, you know why I’m here.”

“When Buffy finds out…”

“Buffy isn’t gonna find out.  Not from me, certainly not from Angel.  Think this is the kind of pillow talk he indulges in when he’s making love to Buffy?”  Riley’s head twisted away, sharper than when he’d been hit, the action highlighting rather than concealing his jealous rage.  “No-one’s going to find out.  This place…” Xander gestured.  “You understand what it is?  It’s a furnace.  After we’re gone it will be fired up and the last traces of you will be destroyed.  Along with all the other garbage.”  For the first time, Riley allowed his situation to sink in.  He slowly looked back to Xander before shaking his head in disbelief.  “What?  You thought we were here to talk and…?  We’d let you go?”

“Xander…  This – this…  It’s their way, not yours.  You’re better than this, Xander.”

“You’d think, wouldn’t you?  But I’m comfortable with my own brand of morality.  It allows me to follow my instincts when it comes to right and wrong.  Torturing a creature who can’t fight back is, unquestionably, morally wrong.  I don’t know how I can make you understand that, when you plainly have no morals at all.”

“You think you can lecture me on morality?  When you’re fucking around with…”

“Hey!  Warning you.  No more name-calling.  Not if you want to keep your skin for the rest of this discussion.”

Seeing the extreme look of interest on Angel’s face at that statement, Riley quietened, pointlessly licked parched lips with a dry tongue.  Minutes passed.

“I do what I do,” Riley explained, faux-reasonably now, “to keep people safe.  To keep the people you care about safe.  Exactly what you used to do in Sunnydale.”

Xander was away from Angel in a second, to Riley’s side as he pulled a wedge of papers from his pocket, something Angel had handed Xander earlier to ease any potential crisis of conscience.  Pictures, memories of captivity, drawn by Spike, more of the very awful same.  The pages were thrust into Riley’s face.

“Not me, never me, not this,” Xander told him shakily.  Fractured arm, bone extruding.  “Does this make you feel proud of what you do?”  A handful of broken fingers, thumb attached by a mere sliver of flesh.  “Does this?”  Spike’s other hand, skinned.  “How about this?”  Guts spilling from a slashed belly.  “This?”  Riley tried to turn his head away; Xander viciously grabbed a handful of hair and turned it back.  “Look at this.  Imagine the pain.”

“He doesn’t have to imagine it.  I can show him,” Angel added casually as he prowled around them.

“Spike feels, Riley.  And this is what he felt.  Because of you.”

“I didn’t…”

“You try and tell me you’re the innocent party here and I’m going to let Angel start tearing you to pieces right now.”

“It was my job.”

“Your job!  Want to show me where it mentions compulsory torture in your contract?”

“Sometimes it’s necessary…”

“Don’t you fucking dare spout the Initiative handbook at me!”

Xander backed off quickly before he could succumb to the need to hit the man again.

“Whatever,” Riley responded coldly.  “No Initiative handbook.  Ask me a question.  You’ll get your answer.”

“Okay.”  Xander took a deep breath, barely able to control himself enough to get the words out.  “Want to tell me what you were thinking when you sliced off his face, you fucking sadist?”

A moment of intense silence; the corner of Riley’s lip twitched upwards.  That was all it took for Xander to be lost to the fury churning inside him, and he leapt forward, only to find himself caught around the waist and hauled away by Angel.  Xander struggled to be free, but only for a briefest time; so insanely enraged he’d scared himself, he pressed back into Angel, no play-acting now, purely needing comfort.  Unknowingly in the exact same hold that Spike had found solace in when Angel had taken him to see the remains of the Initiative building.

“Angel, I…” Xander began in a whisper, trying to figure out whether or not he was shocked and/or appalled by his realisation.  “I think I could do it.  I could kill him.”

“I can’t allow that, we discussed…”

“I know, I understand.  But…  Right then, I think I could have done it.  I knew I wanted him dead but I didn’t know I could’ve done it.  God, I so want him dead.”

“Me too, and you’re more than capable, but that fast would have been a blessing.”  Angel raised his voice so Riley couldn’t fail to hear.  “I want to kill him inch by inch.  Body and soul.”  Xander saw that; he nodded.  “There’s an interesting moment, Xander, when a victim will go from pleading for his life, to pleading for his death.  You’ll enjoy it.”

Angel loosened his grip slightly to allow Xander to escape the hold if he wanted to.  Apparently not.  Xander simply shivered at the feel of cold lips on the nape of his neck, thinking familiar and wondering family trait?  Amazing how secure he felt with Angel.  Grandpa.  Oh.  My.  God.  Family.  Real goddamn how-it-should-be family.

“I feel safe with you,” Xander murmured privately, wanting to share this extraordinary revelation.

“Because you are safe with me.  I don’t harm my own.”

“Not any more.”

“Not any more,” Angel confirmed, prepared to acknowledge the past, knowing that denial would stir Xander’s simmering rage.  “Want to go on?”

“In a moment.”

 

Xander eased away from Angel, needing to calm down with a few strolled circuits of the furnace.  Several times he noticed Angel whispering to Riley, and the look of inconcealable terror on the human’s face.  Curiosity, however, did not get the better of him.  Riley could keep those warped confidences for himself.

The soldier suddenly jerked away from the vampire, fresh nerve undoubtedly struck, and the sound of Angel’s snickering amusement ghosted around the chamber.  He looked to Xander with a golden-eyed smile, and Xander nodded, returning to stand before Riley.

“You told a lie.  You get to pay.”

“Wha…?”

“You agreed.  You said it wasn’t about Buffy and…”

“I didn’t know!”

“Then you should have kept your mouth shut.”

“You didn’t explain,” Riley insisted, panicked eyes never leaving Angel.  “Because whatever happened, I understand, I understand how you feel, I didn’t know about you and him, Xander, I…”

“If you tell me it would have made a difference…”

“No!”  Riley exclaimed, having learnt that lesson.  “No, it couldn’t make a difference, it was my job, it’s what I’ve been trained to do.”

“Yet you understand how I feel,” Xander mused.  “Which makes it…worse, actually.  But at least you get why I feel the need to have you taken to pieces.  And, as you’re so understanding, perhaps you’d like to choose the punishment for lying.  It can be…anything.  Anything you did to Spike.”  Riley baulked at that; it was almost possible to see his mind cataloguing the tortures he’d inflicted on the vampire.

“Please, Xander, you don’t have to do what he wants…”

I want.  Angel is doing what I want.  Necessary, ‘cause, as I explained, I can’t be as cruel as this needs to be for a Rite of Vengeance.”

“Luckily, I can,” Angel confirmed with a smile.  “I think I’ve already proved that to your colleagues.”

The truth sank in and refocused Riley’s distracted mind; he struggled furiously against his bonds.

“You bastard!  That was you!  You – you destroyed the base!”

“I – I destroyed the base,” Angel mocked.

“You bastard, fucking bastard, do you know how many people were in there?”

“I’d estimate one too few seeing as you’re sitting here.”  A truly evil smile appeared.  “I imagine you thought you were lucky to escape.”

“You’ll never get away with this!”

“Don’t you understand, boy?  We already have.”

Riley continued to curse and struggle.

“Riley…  Riley, listen.  Ri…  Oh, for fuck’s sake.”  Xander dropped to one knee beside the incensed soldier, reaching over to pinch shut his nose and cover his mouth with one strong hand.  Riley immediately became rigid, staring at Xander with pleading eyes.  “Shutting up now?”  Riley nodded.  A few more seconds and Xander released his hold.

The soldier whooped down unnecessarily large gulps of air and Xander waited until he’d finished overreacting.

“Did you choose?  Your punishment?”  Riley shook his head, staring at the floor to avoid eye contact.  “I can’t believe it would be a problem for someone with your imagination.  C’mon, Ri, what did you do to Spike that you were particularly proud of?”

No response from Riley and Angel left for the few minutes it took to fill a bucket with freezing water.  Xander stepped away as Angel tipped it over the soldier, leaving him gasping for the second time in a few minutes, glaring murderously at his captors.

“You have his attention, Childe.”

“Go fuck yourself.”

“No need,” Angel smirked, dipping to Riley’s level.  “If I need a little relief, there’s always…”  Riley wrenched his head away as Angel slid a fingertip over his bottom lip.  “Plus, when I walk away from your corpse I’ll have Buffy to fuck.  And, unlike some…humans…” Angel pointedly glanced over Riley’s body.  “…I’m more than adequate for the task.”

“That bother you, Xander?” Riley taunted.  “The fact she chose them over you time and again?  You loved her and she…”

“Won’t work,” Xander said lightly.  “Too happy with Spike, no regrets.”

“We’re a very contented family,” purred Angel.  “I could turn you, let you see for yourself.”

“No!”

“Angel, you’ve gotta be kidding.”

“Think, Xander.  Think of how long it would take to kill a strong, healthy minion.  The fun we could have, letting Mr Finn take Spike’s role as we relive the events of his incarceration.  Over.  And over.  And over.”

“Fun, I give you that, but after today, I don’t ever want to see this face again.”

“You mentioned the solution earlier.”  Riley pressed back in his seat, whimpering in fear as the vampire refused to be shaken off a second time; Angel ran his fingers over the human’s features, tracing around the hairline and down to the jaw with nails that left seeping grazes.  “We can slice his face off.”

Xander remembered, quoted coldly.

‘Do it once more in my presence and I’ll slice that fucking vile mess you call a face right off.’”

Recognition.  Blind panic set in and Riley thrashed as best he was able.  Angel allowed his touch to be dislodged and returned to Xander; for fifteen minutes they dispassionately scrutinised the soldier attempting to regain a little composure.  Weeping, screaming, obscenities, threats, struggles, rope burns.  Despair.  Exhaustion.

 

“Ready to choose your punishment, Ri?”  A glare filled with loathing but no reply.  “Okay.  If he can’t choose a punishment, I think you should, Sire.  Maybe something you’ve discussed with him over the last couple of days,” Xander suggested before Riley could spit the vitriolic retort he was summoning, and that proposal was distracting enough to bring him up short.  Angel’s inescapable voice was in Riley’s head, creating pictures that made him want to scream, creating pictures that left him breathless and unable to.  Shivers set in, one intense tremor after the other, and Riley used the sensation to bring him back, constructing new lies: he was shaking but his icy clothes were to blame, nothing to do with the fear of Xander handing him over to Angel.  Welcome anger coursed through him and he met his enemy’s eyes.

Angel circled the two men, playfully staring Riley down.

“Did you mean what you said?  If he did it to Spike…”

“I think it’s only fair.”

Riley’s head jerked up and his mouth gaped in unspoken protest as Angel once again closed in, and Xander had a minor flashback to when Angel invading his personal space was the scariest thing he’d ever known.

“Following orders, doing your job…  You see yourself as innocent.  And if you’re innocent, why the panic?” Angel asked Riley.  “If you’re innocent, Spike couldn’t possibly have told me how you sliced him open, cut out his testicles, replaced them with shell casings – some amusing allusion to shooting blanks, I believe – had him sown up, allowed to heal.  Knowing he would have to tear his own flesh apart to remove the metal…”

Angel’s words were interrupted by an anguished cry and Xander’s fist flying into Riley’s face, several times, viciously enough to smash a cheekbone and tear open the corner of his eye.  Angel caught Xander and moved him away for a second time.

“Give him to me, Angel, I’ll fucking kill him, I’ll never regret it.”

Angel shushed and whispered comfort to his tearful almost-childe.

“Xander.  Xander.  I’m sorry.  I thought you knew it all.”

“No.  Spike didn’t tell me, he didn’t tell me.  Why would he…  He lied, why would he lie to me?”

“He didn’t lie so much as not tell you the truth.  All the truth.  He’d do anything to stop you being hurt, Xander.  Whereas I like you hurt.”  Xander looked at Angel, demanding more.  Angel smirked.  “I like you this…motivated.”

Xander accepted and nodded.

“I’ve…  Sorry.  I’ve screwed up your plan.”

Threat of violence, not violence.

“Yeah, but…now it is screwed…”

The smirk became kinder before turning conspiratorial, and Xander knew what Angel wanted.  Another nod and he returned to Riley, assessing the damage he’d done and checking that the soldier was still fully conscious.  Riley stared blearily, his face already swelling around the injuries, and Xander returned the look coldly, feeling neither sympathy nor contrition.

“Now I get to choose.  And you’re not going to like this.”

In a swift move, Xander tore open Riley’s sodden shirt, pointing to an area of his stomach.

“About here, I think.  Cut him open.”

Riley was abruptly, fully awake.

“Xander, no, don’t, no, I…”

“Cut him open and rape him.”

Xander’s hands slapped firmly over Riley’s mouth, deadening the scream of fear that emerged as Angel loomed.

“Sure?” Angel asked with a malicious grin that carried over to his demon features as he morphed.

“He did it to Spike.  It’s pure justice.”

In an elegant swoop, Angel straddled Riley’s lap, grasping his throat in a bid to still the mindless struggle to escape, dragging a rough claw through the skin where Xander had indicated, a bloody X marking the spot.

“Don’t play so hard to get, boy,” Angel chuckled.  “Surely you’d like to know why Buffy enjoys me so much?”  Riley sobbed and squirmed, cursing behind Xander’s hands as Angel wiped tears from his smashed face.  “As a soldier, it’s probably the only scrap of virginity you’ve got left.  But if there’s time later, we’ll see,” the vampire whispered, sliding off of Riley’s lap and disappearing into the darkness.

Xander removed his hands, wiping them distastefully on Riley’s shoulders, ridding himself of snot and saliva.

“You not enjoying this, Ri?”

“Xander, please, don’t let him do this.”

“Not quite so much fun when it’s you, huh?”

“Don’t let him, Xander, please, please, Xander, I didn’t know about you and…and…”

Spike!  His name is Spike!” Xander shouted furiously.

“Please, Xander, don’t let him.”

“You want compassion?  Where was your compassion when you had Spike broken and begging for his food?  Grovelling at your feet?”  My poor sweet William, doing whatever he could to protect and sustain his demon.  “Where was your compassion when you had his nerves cut?  Crippling him because it would be interesting to see how long it took him to heal, and it would be amusing to see how he coped meantime.”

“No, Xander, I…”

Did.  Sure, you’d always blind him but he knew your voice, he could hear you.  Plug his ears but, vampire hearing, he could still hear you, he knew it was you.  He heard you joking about what was being done to him.  How funny was it to blind him?  How funny to peel the skin from his body and douse him in holy water?  How funny to rape his guts?”  One cold cunt.  “How hard are you going to laugh when Angelus does it to you?”

Riley was shaking his head again, fast, denial or disbelief or pleading, Xander didn’t know and didn’t care.  Then Angel was on his way back, and as Riley quaked in his seat, the vampire waved a piece of rusty, jagged pipe at Xander.

“Perfect,” he announced.

“What’s that for?”

“On consideration even I refuse to stoop so low.  He can’t have my body, but this will make a suitably painful substitute.”

“Yeah,” Xander said reasonably.  “Don’t blame you.”

“Ideal length.  When we’re done with his gut, I’ll ram it up his ass until it pops out his throat.”

“Oh, God, he didn’t—”

“No, not to Spike,” Angel conceded before smiling coyly.  “It’s just…  Call me sentimental, but it’s an old favourite of mine.”

Back on Riley’s lap, Angel took a knife from his pocket, squeezing the catch and letting the blade click out, an inch from Riley’s chin.  As Angel lowered the knife and his attention, Riley began to squirm; Xander’s hands clamped down, mouth and throat, semi-effectively silencing and stilling the terrified human.  Riley hollered against Xander’s palm as he felt the knife slide over and into his skin, the hot, wet trickle of blood down his stomach.  The blade probed a little further, delicately finding its path.

“Maximum pain…” Angel muttered to himself, “…minimum life endangerment.”  His head rose and he met Riley’s wild eyes.  “Want this to last a lifetime,” Angel grinned.

Riley jumped in alarm as the pipe was tossed away and clattered to the floor behind him; Angel looked up at Xander, indicating his preparations were complete.

“You have them?” Xander asked.

The vampire nodded, face becoming grim, and he reached back into his pocket and removed what was actually going into the hole in Riley’s belly.  His hand rose and the dog tags excised from Spike dangled in front of Riley’s nose.

“Returning your property, Mr Finn.”

Tensing in expectation of a frenzied reaction, Xander was confused by Riley’s lack of response, and all three watched in eerie silence as the dog tags were fed into the prepared cavity, poked into place by the tip of the knife, chain hanging over Riley’s stomach, links transformed into a smooth tube of blood.  Riley’s short gasps became deep panting, jaw hanging loose, a single thread of saliva dangling from his lip.  Angel stared into the dull gaze.

“I think we broke him,” Angel told Xander with great satisfaction.

“What?  We can’t have, he’s a fucking soldier, he’s trained to withstand—  Ah, Jesus, what have you been filling his head with for days?”

“This and that,” Angel replied casually.  “Don’t worry, I have ways of securing his undivided attention.  Fetch some more water, Xander.”

Xander took the bucket, glancing back as he walked to the control room, seeing the vampire’s mouth return to Riley’s ear, whispering his horrors, inflicting wounds far more devastating than anything they could impose upon the flesh.  Too much?  Xander wavered.  He wanted rid of the hatred burning inside him, and he wanted Riley Finn removed from existence in one go, not as Angel would have it: inch by inch, body and soul.  He certainly didn’t want to be left with a mindless shell that wouldn’t understand why this treatment was so thoroughly warranted.  Back to his original requirements: the man had to answer his questions – almost done; know why he was losing his life – certainly covered; die – sooner rather than later.  Simple.  Finish this and home to Spike.

Xander brought the water, threw it over Riley; as the huffing and puffing at the shock of the cold eased, he saw the soldier’s gratitude at his return: it meant Angel’s withdrawal.

“Don’t look at me like that, I’m not your saviour,” Xander snapped, sickened by the resurrection of his need to see the man suffer.  “I want this over with,” Xander said as he turned to Angel.

“Surely you’re not going to spoil my fun?”

The intimidating golden eyes in the human face made Xander fight a shudder.

“My part.  Over.  Sire.”  Xander dropped his head forward in deference.  A gentle touch to the back of his skull and Xander looked up to see Angel’s concern.  “There’s something I need to ask him, then you get to play all you want.”

“You’ll watch?  For the Rite?”

“I will.  A little.”

A brief pause, and Angel stood aside, offering Xander the floor with a flourishing gesture.  Xander’s smile at that faded quickly as he dragged out a question that he hated to consider, one that had haunted him.  Painful to ask but he had to know the answer.

“Riley…  Why did you let him live?”

“Orders,” Riley answered with weary disdain.

“You could treat him like that but you couldn’t kill him?”  Xander glanced at Angel.  “How fucked is that?”

“How did Spike get away?” Angel enquired in the intriguingly polite tone he usually adopted before he made everything so much worse for his prey.

There was an instant when it looked like Riley might settle for one last sullen defiance.  But no.

“He was so pathetic we’d given up locking him away.  He’d taken to following anyone who looked vaguely like…”  The eye that wasn’t swollen shut flickered over them.  “…either of you.  He was freaking us out by then but we couldn’t kill him, so one night we allowed him to follow a look-alike outside.  We figured he’d be dust at dawn.”

The thought of William, terrified as he must have been, struggling hundreds of miles to find the person who unconsciously meant safety to him, and Xander’s eyes filled.

“You failed,” he managed to choke out.  “You didn’t – couldn’t – destroy him.  He’s stronger, healthier, more beautiful than ever.  Lethal.  No chip.  He’s magnificent.”  Xander fumbled for his wallet and opened it, showing Riley the photo of Spike that lived there.  “And you know why he couldn’t be here tonight?  ‘Cause we tossed a coin and he got the pleasure of killing off your family.”

“God, no,” Riley whispered as that sank in, “no,” and Xander felt deeply satisfied with the response to that simple yet inspired lie, at last having found a way to make Riley feel.  He very pointedly drew out and checked his phone.

“I was hoping he’d send a picture on the cell by now, just so you could see the bodies before you died, but…I guess he’s having too much fun to stop.  You know what these guys are like, with the mutilation and the rape and the blood lust.”

“Xander, no, stop him, they were innocent.”

“So was William.”  Riley looked understandably confused, but Angel caught Xander’s eye and gave a single nod of approval.  “Okay, I’m done.”

“Don’t go,” Riley pleaded, terrified gaze fixed on the vampire.  “Xander, don’t—”

Xander’s hands covered Riley’s mouth for the nth time that night.

“There’s no point in begging.  You made your choices, you’re facing the consequences.”  Xander stooped, mouth to the soldier’s ear.  “Y’know the best way to squeeze an orange, Riley?  You roll it hard, break the inside down, make sure all the juice is released when you finally cut it open.  I need you to try for a little Jaffa mentality, because that’s exactly what my sire is about to do to you.”  Riley frantically shook his head, pleading incoherently against Xander’s palm.  “Your show, Angel.”

Xander released Riley and turned to go, noticing the pictures that had been scattered earlier; he carefully collected them, reliving Spike’s nightmare scene by scene – Spike’s reality.  And the urge to personally kill Riley returned when he noticed how much Spike’s hand had shaken whilst recording a particularly barbaric memory.  He glanced back to where Angel was watching him, golden eyes strangely compassionate within the demon’s face.

“Bear in mind his past addictions,” Xander told him.  “Let him come before you drain him completely.  Just before.  So he knows the pleasure will be the death of him.  Literally.”

“Torture, humiliation, death.  You’re a wicked boy, Xander.”  Angel’s tone softened.  “I’m proud of you.”

“I’m glad you find me worthy,” Xander reciprocated as gently.  A glimpse of Riley’s appalled face and Xander’s expression hardened.  “Enjoy.”

“No!  Xander, please!  You said – you said you couldn’t.  You don’t want to hurt me!”

“Kinda true.  Try to follow this: right now, I don’t want to hurt you, I want Angel to hurt you.”

“Mmm, Angel wants to hurt you,” the vampire added with the return of the mean grin.

“Because Angel can hurt you so much more than I can.”

“Xander…!”

“Be quiet, Riley.”

“Xander,” Riley screeched as Angel stalked forward.

“For God’s sake, shut up!  Angel, can you please get rid of his tongue first?”

“But then I won’t get to hear him beg articulately.  And it’s a misconception that removing a man’s tongue keeps him quiet, he’ll make just as much noise as…”

“Yeah, I get it.”  Xander turned away and headed for the door as the soldier’s frantic whimpers gained volume.  “Back soon.  I need some air.”

“Don’t wander off.”

“No, I’ll be careful.”

The snickering growl behind him made Xander’s hair stand on end.

“Well, Mr Finn, now we get to discuss my boy…”

 

Riley Finn’s inarticulate screams followed Xander into the night.

 

 

Repossession 111       Repossession Index       Repossession Notes

 

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