Cretian Escape

A/N: Let me give big thanks to Evilawyer (don’t you just love that name) for beta-ing this chapter. She was so gracious to offer to help. And, man, she is going to whip my ass in shape.

Let me put in a warning for implied slash - but it is not with Spike : )


Chapter 12 – Ganging Up

‘Damn it!’ Vassilious berated himself. He should have known that this was going to happen. Since the viewing had been a colossal success, his mistress had been riding a natural high all evening, giddy with delight. Due to this, he should have thought it through because she always associated joy with pain, but he hadn’t. It wasn’t until the clan had returned to the mansion and Argonia told an errand boy to fetch her favorite cat-o’-nine tails and take it to the Slayer’s cell that he realized what Argonia planned to do. Vassilious cursed himself for not heading this off. Cursed himself, that is, until he heard the door being unlocked. What the hell was he thinking? He shouldn’t care so much for a human. Why did he have to remind himself of that? He was a vampire, and she was a vampire slayer. She kills his kind. He wavampvampire that should want to kill her kind more than he did. What was he thinking? uld,uld,” he thought? “Would,” he told himself. Would he?

Before he had time to examine his attitude towards the slayer and the current situation any further, Argonia swept into the cell, and he followed closely. Vassilious could tell that the small woman inside was surprised and wasn’t quite sure what to make of this visit.

He was right. Buffy wasn’t sure what to think of this invasion of her cell. She hadn’t seen the clan’s mistress since the one visit shortly after she had been taken captive. Even though Buffy didn’t know what was going on, she didn’t need her slayer senses to tell that this wasn’t going to be a pleasant second meeting.

“Well, slayer,” Argonia cocked her head to the side and considered Buffy carefully. “You did well tonight, and the best part is that we are not even finished yet. Actually, I have wanted to conduct an experiment, and this is a good chance to do so.” The errand boy brought in the whip and laid it in Argonia’s hand. “I want to see how fast a slayer heals. You have a week to heal up, after all.”

And the whipping began, eventually leaving peeled strips of flesh and thin rivers of blood running down her back and onto the floor. When the whipping was over and Argonia was lapping at Buffy’s wounds, Vassilious found himself astounded by how well the slayer had held up. This little slayer’s strength, her tolerance of pain, and her will was truly impressive.

What he didn’t find impressive was what happened after leaving the cell. As soon as they were in the hall, Argonia was all over him, hands clawing at his clothes and her open mouth locked onto his. Before he knew what was happening, she was clawing into his pants and pulling out his cock.

“Come on, lover. Get hard for me. Rock hard so you can give it to me.” Argonia had a firm grip on his cock and was pumping it with her hand. With the other hand, she was rubbing her sex through her skirt. “I need it. I’m so hot from the taste of that slayer’s blood.”

Vassilious’ realized that his shaft was definitely not connected to his brain as it responded to her advances. He felt like a piece of meat. All she needed was a hard cock, no matter who it was connected to. Right. He felt disconnected as she pulled him around so that her back was against the wall, lifted her skirt and push his cock into her dripping cunt. shove

When it was over, she walked away without a word, already dismissing him from her mind. Vassilious was left, looking down at shafshaft as it slowly shrank, shriveling just as his feelings for his mistress were.

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While Spike was parking the car after the viewing, Cordelia slipped into the villa. Accordingly, she was the first to come face to face with Willow, Xander, Dawn, and Giles. Angel was pacing behind everyone, but froze when he saw his loenteenter. All eyes were on Cordelia; she took the focused attention in stride. After the night she had just had, this was nothing. She waved and smiled. “Hi, guys. How are you all doing?” Cordelia didn’t even pause to let anyone answer. “Be back in a sec. Honey, could you come unzip my dress?” Angel wasn’t sure he was ever going to ever get used to her calling him “honey” in public, but that was certainly not what he wanted to talk to her about. Heedless of whether she had asked or not, Angel followed her into their bedroom.

Once in the bedroom, Angel was amused when Cordy immediately walked over to the mirror to admire her reflection. “Don’t I look great? You weren’t here yet to see me before we left for the viewing. This dress is a knock out, isn’t it?”

Angel reached out, turned her around and kissed her deeply. How he had missed the taste of her. When he let her come up for air, he whispered in her ear. “You look better than great, and you know it.”

“Yum.” It took a moment for Cordelia’s brain to get back on track. “Well, unzip me then.”

Angel did as asked with pleasure. “And that view will be better than ‘great’.”

“So what did they say?”

While admiring her lovely back that he had exposed, Cordelia’s question broke into his thoughts. “What?”

“What? What did the gang say about Spike being back?”

“I didn’t tell them.” Angel’s eyes sparkle with mischief.

Cordy whipped around and looked at him. “Oh…OH! When he walks out there, it’s going to be like…wow.”

“Exactly.”

Cordelia threw on the first comfortable clothes she could lay her hands on. “I love it when you’re Mr. Mischievous. Let’s go watch.”

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After Cordelia whisked by, the others stood out on the balcony, looking at each other in confusion. Nobody spoke for a couple of moments. Huh? What? Why wasn’t Cordelia standing in front of them telling them about the viewing she had just left?

Clearing his throat, not surprisingly Xander broke the silence. “Uh…that’s obviously an impostor. The Cordelia we all know and put up with would never pass up an opportunity to be the center of attention. In fact, she…” Xander’s voice trailed off when a newcomer stepped through the entryway of the balcony.

Spike was shrugging out of his suit jacket as he walked out onto the balcony where the others were gathered. When he saw them, he nearly tripped and fell out of shock. Willow and Dawn were sitting near a table that had an offering of food spread out. Xander was leaning against a pillar, and Giles looked to have been pacing. All froze when he entered. He knew this was coming, and how he had dreaded this reunion. Now he was so glad that he hadn’t known that this particular moment would be this night.

Looking back across their expressions again, Spike was surprised to see no recognition. Just as in the viewing, no one expected to see him because that was impossible - they thought. ‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’ he thought, ‘it’s only hair dye, curls, and contacts. Ha ha, Ang Sp Spike inwardly groaned. ‘You didn’t tell them, did you? Well, let’s have some fun.’

For the moment, Spike kept his cleaned up accent. “Hello all. Have a good trip over? Sight better weather here than Cleveland, I would imagine.” He walked over to a vacant chair and laid his jacket over the back. At this point, Angel and Cordy came out of their bedroom. Cordy just grinned, letting him know that they were not going to say anything to help him, to which Spike gave her a quick glare.

“So Rups, what do you know about the Sepatucci clan? Have you talked to Angel’s watcher in LA and seen if he has come up with anything yet?”

Not surprisingly, Rupert bristled when the stranger used such an annoying nickname for him. “I don’t just answer questions from a stranger carte blanche.”

Ignoring Giles’ implied question concerning his identity for a moment, Spike moved to the table and looked the food over. After popping some cheese into his mouth, thankful that he made the shot since his hand was shaking from nervousness, he again focused on Giles with one last taunt. “Why, Rupert, you don’t recognize me with my upper class accent, do you?” Spike loosened up his tie as he turned to Xander, who was still leaning against a pillar. “And, whelp, looks like you’ve missed a donut or four. Looks good.”

After the reference to his weight and eating habits, it was Xander’s turn to bristle. He pushed away from the pillar. “Thanks…no…hey, where’d you get that name for me? I haven’t heard it since…” Squinting his eyes at the stranger with suspicion, he left the rest unsaid.

Spike turned his attention to Willow, who sported an “it can’t be” expression on her face. “Red, how about some mojo to get my blonde locks back. I little gel would be nice, too.” When she didn’t reply, Spike pushed on. “Maybe later, hmm?”

But Willow turned the tables and surprised him. She blinked a few times before she stood up and slowly walked towards him. Five feet away, she stopped and just stared.

“But Spike’s eyes were blue.” Dawn gained everyone’s attention not just because of the eye color observation but because she was the first to have the courage to say the vampire’s name. The name took rocketed the situation from unbelievable to reality.

Willow took another step closer. “Yes, his eyes were an intense blue that saw into your soul.” Moving her head, she looked at his eyes from different angles. “Contacts. Right?”

Raising his eyebrow that sported his poorly disguised scar, Spike nodded his head. “Right on, Red. You were always a smart poppet.”

The easily identifiable scar that Spike shared with the man standing in front of her had was not lost on Willow. Her smile was slow in coming, but it spread ear to ear when it came. She was now officially a believer.

“Good lord,” Giles sputtered, “you don’t actually expect us to believe you are a resurrected Spike. Those are a dime a dozen now. I say balderdash.” He said the words with conviction but felt little. Actually, he felt more like he was going to have a heart attack from shock. He had gotten use to Buffy always coming back, but now Spike…?

Spike slipped back into his customary accent. “Believe it or not, watcher, but…now, follow me here…why would an imposter try to disguise what he was trying to show off?” That logic gave Giles pause. After shrugging, Spike set his glass down, and he turned his attention to Dawn. He started to say something glib as he had with the others, but he just couldn’t bring himself to taunt her. Any subterfuge was thrown to the wind. “Nibblet…I missed you.”

Willow smiled while Rupert and Xander watched in wonder as Dawn approached the stranger, whispering, “Spike? But you are…were gone. There’s a tombstone for ynd end everything.” He barely had time to open his arms before Dawn moved into them.

She pulled away only far enough to look up at his face. “Now I’m sure we will save Buffy. You won’t fail.”

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Buffy looked up when Vassilious entered her cell, and in a flash, she knew something was wrong with him. He was even paler than usual. He said nothing when he came in, and his clothes were askew, which both were again very unusual.

After he sat down, Buffy took the lead, using her new nickname for him, instead of “keeper.” “Vass, you have mega trouble face. Do you want to mega unload? To tell the truth, it would be good to hear someone else’s problems for a change.”

He turned his dark eyes in her direction, but they were unfocused. “No.”

That abrupt, negative answer made Buffy believe that he just had sat down out of habit, not because he even saw the pillows littering the floor. ‘Let’s start a little more basic and get the vamp talking,’ Buffy thought. Buffy hated to admit it, but over the past few days of her incarceration, this vampire had starting to grow on her. At times, when they were having one of their exchange of views, Vass would remind her of Spike back when he still had the chip, fighting the urges to think along the light side instead of the darker one. Spike had just needed a push here and there. Maybe the same could be true for this vampire. “Ok then, I’ve been answering your questions when you visit, now it’s your turn. Tell me about yourself. What were you before you were turned? When were you turned and where?” Finally, his eyes focused on her. Better, Buffy thought. “Tell me about the young Vass.”

It took several moments for Vassilious to gather his thoughts, and then he gave her a sliver of a smile. This little slayer had a way about her, a brightness that made her shine in such a dark situation. Surprising even himself, he started talking as she had requested.

Actually, Vassilious had to tell his tale over the course of two visits since Buffy’s medicine made her fall asleep during the first half of the tale. During the second visit, he stopped the tale right after he had joined the Sepatucci clan, hesitant to say anything of his time with Argonia. His current feelings for that particular period of his unlife were approaching too close to shame and embarrassment to even consider admitting such feelings to the little slayer.

Buffy knew that there was more to the story; she could read it all over his usually stoic face. For some strange reason, she guessed that the missing bit of the story had to do with what was bothering Vass when he had first come into the cell. Just call her Intuitive Buffy. “So what happened to make you so upset last time when you started telling your tale?”

He would never know why he started talking. Maybe he could blame it on his lips being possessed. Ha. What he had really needed was to talk out his woes, his conflicting feelings. He needed someone to listen, whether the person understood or not, even heard or not. He thought back to the visit he had with Argonia just before he started telling his history to Buffy.

The young vampire pulled a naked Vassilious around by the shoulder and locked with him in an open mouthed kiss. More of a devour on the boy’s part. Argonia had summoned Vass to her chamber for the supposed privilege of participating in a torture session of a young boy and his sister and then an orgy, and Vass was trying to convince himself that he was enjoying the festivities. When he did not take a turn feeding off the children, his mistress took the lead and playfully pushed him away into the waiting arms of a young blonde vampire, who leered and immediately wrapped an arm around Vassilious’ waist. Then the fledgling snaked his free hand between them, grasped Vass’ shaft and began stroking from the base to the head and back. His cock responded even though his mind didn’t. Licking and biting his way around Vassilious’ upper body, the vampire changed their positions so that his front was against Vassilious’ back and Vassilious could now feel the boy’s cock rubbing against his hip. As the vampire reached around and continued stroking Vassilious’ shaft, the boy stroked his own shaft with his other hand while kissing and nipping Vassilious’ neck and shoulder.

Vassilious knew that Argonia was watching. He could see her tongue running across her top lip, savoring the view. That was her type of love, watching one of her favorite vampires having sex with others. Vassilious could see that now. But he loved her. He had to keep up the show for her, didn’t he? He would do this for her, wouldn’t he? The head of the boy’s cock started rubbing and delving between the cheeks of his ass. When the vampire put a hand on his back and start pushing to bend him over, Vassilious could stand no more. Not caring whether Argonia was watching or not, he pushed the boy towards another group of writhing bodies. Grabbing his clothes, he fled the chamber.


The last thing Buffy wanted to hear was a tale of sex between vampires, but the only redeeming value was that she gained more insight into Vass. “So you left…”

Vassilious closed his eyes as if trying to block out the memory. “Yes…as if hell hounds were on my heels.”

“You took charge. *You* made a choice. So, with a capital ‘So’?” She looked at him expectantly, and he gazed back nonplussed. “So, how did it feel to make a Vass choice instead of a demon driven choice?”

“I don’t know.” Looking back down at the floor, Vassilious slowly shook his head from side to side. “I just don’t know – yet.”

Buffy reached out as far as her chains would allow and was about to touch Vassilious’ knee in a tentative show of comfort and understanding when she hesitated, thinking he might not find comfort or understanding in such a gesture from a slayer. She understood what was actually bothering Vassilious. It was not the close brush with homosexuality. It was not even Argonia’s lack of feelings for him, as someone looking only on the surface would assume. No, Buffy saw a person floundering with his values, his now conflicting standards. She felt symy foy for him since she knew what he was going through, having watched Spike go through the same thing during the years after the Initiative put the chip into the blonde vampire’s head. In fact, that little story might just cheer him up as well as help with his troubles. She patted his knee after all and set about trying to help dissipate some of his inner turmoil. “Did I ever tell you about the last time Spike came to town to kill me…I know. No shocker there…and he ended up with a chip in his head? Great story…”


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TBC


I know this chapter was a long time coming, but Chapter 13 is coming soon. Thanks for staying with me.

Dana