The Rocky Road to Belonging
folder
Angel the Series › Threesomes/Moresomes
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
8
Views:
2,632
Reviews:
3
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
Angel the Series › Threesomes/Moresomes
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
8
Views:
2,632
Reviews:
3
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BtVS), nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Distinguishing Features
Title: The Rocky Road to Belonging
Author: AddictedtoBuffy
Rating: NC17
Pairing: Spike/Lindsey/Oz/Wesley
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel the Series. They are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy et al. I do not make money from the writing of this, it is purely entertainment. I do not mean any disrespect to the actors who have portrayed these characters. This fic contains explicit Male/Male relationships if you are adverse to this or are under the age of eighteen then please do not read. Thankyou to all the online writers who help keep the Buffyverse alive.
Summary: “My life just couldn’t be any worse at the moment.” Follow the adventures of Spike, Lindsey, Oz, Wesley, Faith, Lorne and Ethan when the initiative interferes in their lives. Set in an AU Season 4 of BtVS.
Series: This is the second story in the Belonging series. The first was “The Watcher and the Wolf” which was Oz/Wesley. You don’t need to read that to understand this all you need to know is that Oz and Wesley are together and Wesley is a werewolf. However, if you do want to read it, it can be found at AFF, Slashaholics Island and ForeverFandom.
Beta: I would be lost without the brilliant Bubbysbub offering wisdom and insight.
Feedback: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE I’ll get on my knees and beg for feedback both good and bad
Part: 7/8
Distribution: Anyone I’ve already said yes to, go for it, anyone else, please ask
Warnings: Mild Language Warning as well as explicit sex scenes and violence for this chapter
Home Page: I have a yahoo group which can be found at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ForeverAngel/
Reviews: extraho - Thankyou so much glad you like how I've portrayed Vamp!Lindsey in this and I hope you continue to enjoy.
Chapter Seven – Distinguishing Features
Ethan’s POV
“I can remember a chant to keep oneself invisible from all hostile eyes which includes any technology but I need ground up rose quartz for it to work, as for pinpointing where the tracer is I’d have to come up with my own spell for that and it could take some time.”
“Well that’s easy enough, once you’ve completed the concealment spell you’ll have plenty of time to come up with a spell to identify the location of the tracer. Would you like some help on that front?” Wesley offers and I might take him up on that offer. He had quite a bit of power I noticed when I used it in the Initiative but his problem is confidence. Its not surprising when Roger Wyndham-Pryce is his father. Maybe I could instruct him in magic, show him things the Council wouldn’t approve of. First I need to address his comment.
“Sorry mate, I forgot to mention that the concealment spell only works for half an hour and I don’t carry rose quartz round in my pockets”. I realise that I’m being my usual rude self and maybe I don’t need to be round here with these people. If we’re truly a team, a family, then I don’t need to be my usual defensive self so I add, “I could use your help later though!”
“Ethan open the glove box, you should find Drusilla’s old supplies in there, maybe even a spell book, I’m not sure.” I do as he says and a doll falls onto my lap. Not any doll either, an old fashioned porcelain doll in an old fashioned dress but with its eyes gouged out. Charming! Underneath a spell book is a bag full of spell ingredients each in its own little compartment. I search through them for the ingredient I need.
“Eureka, got the ground rose quartz.”
“Anything special you need us to do?” Spike asked.
“No, just no talking while I complete the spell.”
“Tropo, strato, meso, aero, iono, exo Elements are brought to bear. Wind, earth, and water churn amidst the fire. Let the air be burned.”
“Did it work?” Faith asks her hair standing up from her head and I look around to find everyone’s hair is the same.
“The electric charged neutrons around us will disturb any tracking device they have.” I explain, then take a better look at the magic book, there might be something in here after-all.
“So boss, what do we do now?” Lorne asks Spike as he continues to drive us away from danger.
“We do what we did before, Lorne keeps driving, once it gets dark I’ll take over then Lindsey etc and we keep driving for over a day while Ethan redoes the spell every half an hour until he can come up with a way to find this tracer.” Spike tells us and it is a good plan except for the part where I’ve got to come up with the spell while maintaining the concealment spell. I don’t think I can do both especially if coming up with my spell takes a while. It seems that Lorne reads my mind as he speaks up.
“One I’ve finished driving maybe I should take over the concealment spell, I can do a little magic and it will give Ethan and Wesley a chance to focus on the spell to find the tracer,” Lorne suggests.
“That would be great. Thanks Lorne,” I thank him genuinely. I’m finding myself liking these people and being glad that I decided to be part of their group. I glance back at the book in my hand before handing it behind me.
“Here Wesley, see what you can find,” I tell him as he takes the offered book and I turn back to my inner reflection on how to find that blasted tracer.
*****
I feel myself dozing off and I wake up with a start, its getting on to dawn and I haven’t found anything. Wait a minute, what if I use the finding hidden objects Hindu chant I know but tweaking it to specifically pinpoint electronic devices in a human body? That might actually work. I turn around in my seat to where Lindsey, Oz and Wesley are curled up together in the backseat. Faith is sitting next to them, it seems she has been talking to Wesley. Spike is driving at the moment and I refuse to look outside as we are careening down the road at breakneck speeds.
“Wesley,” I hiss not wanting to wake up Lorne who is asleep beside me. He only has twenty minutes until he has to redo the spell unless I can find the tracer and have it destroyed before then.
“Yes?” Wesley asks me sleepily and I hope I haven’t woken him up.
“I think I have an idea.” I tell him while I write down the Hindu chant from memory. “How are you with modifying existing spells?”
“I passed the exam if that’s what you mean but that was all theory and controlled circumstances, I don’t know if I can…” he trails off and I see Spike out of the corner of my eye arch an eyebrow. I’ll need to tell him about Wesley’s father later because I’m sure that Wesley hasn’t.
“I’m sure you’ll do fine, just have a look at this and see if you think we can modify it to find the tracer.” I pass the paper back, then turn back to write the spell out again, I then study it changing a word here and there.
“Ethan, why don’t we combine your Hindu chant with the Bakerville principle?” Wesley suggests suddenly and I turn around to converse with him.
“That might work, what d’ya need?” I ask him, eager to let him work the spell and maybe instil some confidence into him.
“Give me five minutes and a pen and paper,” I hand him the items, as I turn back to the front Spike smiles and mouths ‘thanks’. A couple of minutes later he calls me back.
“Okay I think I’ve got it, once I’ve chanted this a blue ball should appear and then hover over the place where the tracer is.”
“What if there is more than one tracer?” Lindsey asks.
“Then the ball should split in two.” Wesley answered before beginning to chant. He obviously knows his Hindi as all his inflexions are perfect and in the right places. I wonder how many languages he actually knows? As he finished a blue light condenses into a single point and flies around the car before attaching itself to the back of my shoulder.
“Oh bloody hell.” I search under the car seat until I find what I’m looking for. One bottle of Jack Daniels that Faith picked up at Willy’s Bar back in Sunnydale. Taking a big swig I look over at Spike, “so how are we going to do this?” Spike swerves and pulls in at the side of the deserted road. We have been travelling by back roads so there is absolutely nobody around.
“Alright anyone here with first aid, nursing or doctoring experience?” Spike asks looking around at everyone. Finally a freshly-awoken Lorne raises his hand.
“Emergency triage once but I’ve never cut into anyone.”
“After tonight you won’t be able to say that again. Here’s wot we’ll do.” I’m glad Spike is here to take charge as I’m pretty much freaking out about being cut open even though I know there’s no other way. “Boys out of the backseat. Ethan take your shirt off and lie face down on the backseat. Faith do we have some more alcohol apart from the Jack?”
“Yeah, just two full bottles of Vodka.” Faith pulls said bottles out from under the seat in front of her.
“Alright use one of them to sterilise the area and Ethan can drink the other to numb the pain. Do we have a blade in the first aid kit?” Blade, oh god a sharp blade. I breath heavily a couple of times until I’m under control, I can do this. Oz is going through the first aid kit.
“There’s a pocket knife.”
“That’ll do. You ready Lorne?” I wish they would ask me if I was ready.
*****
Lorne’s POV
Ethan is stretched out on the back seat on his stomach. It is still dark and nobody has driven past where we are sitting on the side of the road. The other’s are lying in the grass, star gazing apparently but by the sounds there is the occasional kiss involved as well. I’m straddling Ethan’s hips and using his pocket knife to dig around the tracer embedded in his shoulder while attempting to minimise the damage. The lack of sleep from constantly redoing that spell isn’t helping either. Faith is crouching in the doorway near Ethan’s head ready to help. Ethan has passed out from too much alcohol or pain, which I don’t know but I’m glad his not feeling anything anymore.
“How’s it going? Have you got underneath it yet?” I just stare up at Faith trying not to get angry. Really does it look like I’ve got it yet? Instead I decide to be a bit more charitable.
“They nestled it in between muscle and sinew. I don’t want to do him any damage so its going to take time.” I gently ease the knife down beside the tracer. “Pass me the tweezers please I think it will come out easily now.” She passes them to me silently and I use them to wriggle the offending piece of plastic in the wound, hopefully loosening its grasp. After a few minutes I manage to lever it out.
“YES!” Faith yells as I brandish the tracer.
“You got it?” Spike asks walking over to us looking dishevelled.
“What do you want me to do with it?” Who knew that such a small piece of plastic and electronics could cause us so many problems?
“This is what I’ll do with it.” Spike grabs the tracer then throws it on the ground. With glee Spike starts jumping up and down on the tracer.
“Those things are meant to endure I doubt jumping up and down on it will break it.” Wesley snuck up on us. I didn’t know he was there. I hear a crack and pieces of the tracer ricochet everywhere. Spike just smirks.
“Its called vampire strength, pet.” Wesley looked devastated and it doesn’t take reading aura’s to realise that Wesley had serious self-esteem issues. Oz had walked up with Lindsey and he now hugged Wes. “It’s almost dawn lets load up and go.”
*****
“Lorne, wake up its dusk and we’ve reached a town.”
“Huh?” I’m more asleep than awake.
“Its dark and we’ve found a town so that we can get supplies.” I open my eyes and Oz’s face swims into view. I was hoping that all of this was a dream and I was in Caritas. I feel a pang of sadness realising that if that was true I wouldn’t know these people. I look around noticing that we are parked at a petrol station. Wesley, Faith and Ethan are loading groceries into the boot.
“Where’s Spike and Lindsey?”
“Gone to buy blood.” I glance around again, it seems like they have everything under control so one question bugs me.
“Why am I awake?”
“To see if there is anything you need to pick up, plus Spike says we won’t stop from now until dawn when we will stop somewhere for the day so you might want to use the facilities.”
“Thanks Oz,” I reply getting out of the car and stretching my sore muscles. I study Oz under his mass of purple and yellow bruises. He was lucky there was no internal bleeding or maybe they deliberately avoided internal bleeding somehow. I go to ask how he is feeling when Spike and Lindsey come wandering back up with an esky.
“We found a tattoo parlour.” The others look blank at Lindsey’s apparent randomness but I have been waiting for something like this. I don’t have a problem with doing this but I wonder how the others who didn’t have prior knowledge about this factor when our relationship began will react. Ethan catches my eye and winks, it seems he has had enough experience with vampires to know that this was inevitable.
“Um, I like tattoos as much as the next person… maybe more but why are you excited that you found one in this one bar town?” Faith asks.
“I think we need to sit down and talk.” Spike locks the car and lead us over to the park across the road where we all sit around a park bench.
“What’s this about?” Wesley asks once we are all sitting on or around the bench.
“You all said you’d be mine, be my family, my entourage, part of my clan.”
“What’s that got to do with tattoos… oh, that makes sense.” Looks like Oz has figured it out. He doesn’t seem to be upset by this revelation maybe the other two who haven’t worked it out yet will be fine with it too. Spike ruffles Oz’s hair before continuing.
“You’re part of the Aurielian clan, with me as Master or leader if you want. Usually to be part of the clan the Master of Aurielius needs to approve but at the moment Aurielius is a bit separated and leaderless.” This is something I didn’t know about.
“Why?” I ask.
“A few years ago B took the Master of the order of Aurielius out,” Faith supplies. “But why wasn’t there a successor or something to take over?”
“Once the Master dies the Anointed One took over for a little while before I took him out. Usually the title goes to the favoured childe. Darla was the Masters favourite childe but Angel had already killed her. Angelus was her favourite but Angel has never made a claim to the title and many argue that the soul forfeits his right to it.”
“Well then who was Angelus’s favourite?” Ethan asks the question that I have a suspicion of what the answer is.
“I was his favoured,” Spike answers after a long pause and his voice seems to come from a long way off. “but I’m technically not his true childe, however his next favoured was Drusilla and her insane status definitely forfeits her. I’m her only childe.” Yes, I knew it, I’ve allied myself with the Aurielian Master.
“Holy Shit, you’re the Aurelius Master.” Faith exclaims.
“I could be but I haven’t claimed the title.”
“Why not?” Lindsey asks.
“I didn’t want it, it’s a hell of a responsibility and all that sitting around, not my cup of tea. Anyway I can’t claim it with the chip in my head.” Wesley puts his head in Spike’s lap making Spike smile.
“So you can just approve us into the Aurielius clan.” Ethan puts the conversation back on track.
“How can non-vampires be in the Aurielius clan? I mean I’m a vampire slayer, any other vampire sees me, they’ll try and kill me.”
“That’s where the tattoos come in love. Each master vampire has a tattoo with the first letter of their clan and a symbol that is unique to them.”
“The tattoo on your hip.” Oz supplies for those of s who haven’t seen Spike’s naked hip.
“Wait a minute how come the watcher’s Council doesn’t know any of this?” Wesley asks with his head resting on Spike’s thigh.
“It’s been a well protected secret and it needs to stay that way, okay?” Spike raised Wesley’s head to stare into his eyes waiting for a response.
“Like I’m going to be talking to any of those bigots again in my life time.”
“Wesley!” Spike growls.
“Sorry Master, I won’t tell anyone, I promise.” Wesley lowers his eyes in respect. Master?
“Right well any favoured individuals of a master’s court but not childer, are tattooed with the master’s mark.”
“So we’re going to the tattoo parlour to get your mark on us so that we will be safe from other vampires.” I supply.
“Yes, if another vampire hurts someone with a different master vampires mark on them then the whole clan will demand retribution.” Spike stands up gracefully and offers his hands to help the rest of us up. We set off to the tattoo parlour and I hear Spike talking to the wolves. “Sometimes an individual even closer to the master vampire is allowed another image in their tattoo as well, something individual. On top of the railroad spike and the A, I want the two of you to have a full moon floating through clouds. Maybe the A and the spike can be in the moon.”
“Everyone will know we’re werewolves.”
“Yes Wesley, if they can read the tattoos they will. They’ll also know that you’re mine.” That seems to placate the wolves.
“How come I don’t get a tattoo, Sire?”
“When Childer become master vampire in their own right, they swear alliance to they’re order and then get a tattoo of the letter and symbol that represents them.
Author: AddictedtoBuffy
Rating: NC17
Pairing: Spike/Lindsey/Oz/Wesley
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel the Series. They are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy et al. I do not make money from the writing of this, it is purely entertainment. I do not mean any disrespect to the actors who have portrayed these characters. This fic contains explicit Male/Male relationships if you are adverse to this or are under the age of eighteen then please do not read. Thankyou to all the online writers who help keep the Buffyverse alive.
Summary: “My life just couldn’t be any worse at the moment.” Follow the adventures of Spike, Lindsey, Oz, Wesley, Faith, Lorne and Ethan when the initiative interferes in their lives. Set in an AU Season 4 of BtVS.
Series: This is the second story in the Belonging series. The first was “The Watcher and the Wolf” which was Oz/Wesley. You don’t need to read that to understand this all you need to know is that Oz and Wesley are together and Wesley is a werewolf. However, if you do want to read it, it can be found at AFF, Slashaholics Island and ForeverFandom.
Beta: I would be lost without the brilliant Bubbysbub offering wisdom and insight.
Feedback: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE I’ll get on my knees and beg for feedback both good and bad
Part: 7/8
Distribution: Anyone I’ve already said yes to, go for it, anyone else, please ask
Warnings: Mild Language Warning as well as explicit sex scenes and violence for this chapter
Home Page: I have a yahoo group which can be found at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ForeverAngel/
Reviews: extraho - Thankyou so much glad you like how I've portrayed Vamp!Lindsey in this and I hope you continue to enjoy.
Ethan’s POV
“I can remember a chant to keep oneself invisible from all hostile eyes which includes any technology but I need ground up rose quartz for it to work, as for pinpointing where the tracer is I’d have to come up with my own spell for that and it could take some time.”
“Well that’s easy enough, once you’ve completed the concealment spell you’ll have plenty of time to come up with a spell to identify the location of the tracer. Would you like some help on that front?” Wesley offers and I might take him up on that offer. He had quite a bit of power I noticed when I used it in the Initiative but his problem is confidence. Its not surprising when Roger Wyndham-Pryce is his father. Maybe I could instruct him in magic, show him things the Council wouldn’t approve of. First I need to address his comment.
“Sorry mate, I forgot to mention that the concealment spell only works for half an hour and I don’t carry rose quartz round in my pockets”. I realise that I’m being my usual rude self and maybe I don’t need to be round here with these people. If we’re truly a team, a family, then I don’t need to be my usual defensive self so I add, “I could use your help later though!”
“Ethan open the glove box, you should find Drusilla’s old supplies in there, maybe even a spell book, I’m not sure.” I do as he says and a doll falls onto my lap. Not any doll either, an old fashioned porcelain doll in an old fashioned dress but with its eyes gouged out. Charming! Underneath a spell book is a bag full of spell ingredients each in its own little compartment. I search through them for the ingredient I need.
“Eureka, got the ground rose quartz.”
“Anything special you need us to do?” Spike asked.
“No, just no talking while I complete the spell.”
“Tropo, strato, meso, aero, iono, exo Elements are brought to bear. Wind, earth, and water churn amidst the fire. Let the air be burned.”
“Did it work?” Faith asks her hair standing up from her head and I look around to find everyone’s hair is the same.
“The electric charged neutrons around us will disturb any tracking device they have.” I explain, then take a better look at the magic book, there might be something in here after-all.
“So boss, what do we do now?” Lorne asks Spike as he continues to drive us away from danger.
“We do what we did before, Lorne keeps driving, once it gets dark I’ll take over then Lindsey etc and we keep driving for over a day while Ethan redoes the spell every half an hour until he can come up with a way to find this tracer.” Spike tells us and it is a good plan except for the part where I’ve got to come up with the spell while maintaining the concealment spell. I don’t think I can do both especially if coming up with my spell takes a while. It seems that Lorne reads my mind as he speaks up.
“One I’ve finished driving maybe I should take over the concealment spell, I can do a little magic and it will give Ethan and Wesley a chance to focus on the spell to find the tracer,” Lorne suggests.
“That would be great. Thanks Lorne,” I thank him genuinely. I’m finding myself liking these people and being glad that I decided to be part of their group. I glance back at the book in my hand before handing it behind me.
“Here Wesley, see what you can find,” I tell him as he takes the offered book and I turn back to my inner reflection on how to find that blasted tracer.
*****
I feel myself dozing off and I wake up with a start, its getting on to dawn and I haven’t found anything. Wait a minute, what if I use the finding hidden objects Hindu chant I know but tweaking it to specifically pinpoint electronic devices in a human body? That might actually work. I turn around in my seat to where Lindsey, Oz and Wesley are curled up together in the backseat. Faith is sitting next to them, it seems she has been talking to Wesley. Spike is driving at the moment and I refuse to look outside as we are careening down the road at breakneck speeds.
“Wesley,” I hiss not wanting to wake up Lorne who is asleep beside me. He only has twenty minutes until he has to redo the spell unless I can find the tracer and have it destroyed before then.
“Yes?” Wesley asks me sleepily and I hope I haven’t woken him up.
“I think I have an idea.” I tell him while I write down the Hindu chant from memory. “How are you with modifying existing spells?”
“I passed the exam if that’s what you mean but that was all theory and controlled circumstances, I don’t know if I can…” he trails off and I see Spike out of the corner of my eye arch an eyebrow. I’ll need to tell him about Wesley’s father later because I’m sure that Wesley hasn’t.
“I’m sure you’ll do fine, just have a look at this and see if you think we can modify it to find the tracer.” I pass the paper back, then turn back to write the spell out again, I then study it changing a word here and there.
“Ethan, why don’t we combine your Hindu chant with the Bakerville principle?” Wesley suggests suddenly and I turn around to converse with him.
“That might work, what d’ya need?” I ask him, eager to let him work the spell and maybe instil some confidence into him.
“Give me five minutes and a pen and paper,” I hand him the items, as I turn back to the front Spike smiles and mouths ‘thanks’. A couple of minutes later he calls me back.
“Okay I think I’ve got it, once I’ve chanted this a blue ball should appear and then hover over the place where the tracer is.”
“What if there is more than one tracer?” Lindsey asks.
“Then the ball should split in two.” Wesley answered before beginning to chant. He obviously knows his Hindi as all his inflexions are perfect and in the right places. I wonder how many languages he actually knows? As he finished a blue light condenses into a single point and flies around the car before attaching itself to the back of my shoulder.
“Oh bloody hell.” I search under the car seat until I find what I’m looking for. One bottle of Jack Daniels that Faith picked up at Willy’s Bar back in Sunnydale. Taking a big swig I look over at Spike, “so how are we going to do this?” Spike swerves and pulls in at the side of the deserted road. We have been travelling by back roads so there is absolutely nobody around.
“Alright anyone here with first aid, nursing or doctoring experience?” Spike asks looking around at everyone. Finally a freshly-awoken Lorne raises his hand.
“Emergency triage once but I’ve never cut into anyone.”
“After tonight you won’t be able to say that again. Here’s wot we’ll do.” I’m glad Spike is here to take charge as I’m pretty much freaking out about being cut open even though I know there’s no other way. “Boys out of the backseat. Ethan take your shirt off and lie face down on the backseat. Faith do we have some more alcohol apart from the Jack?”
“Yeah, just two full bottles of Vodka.” Faith pulls said bottles out from under the seat in front of her.
“Alright use one of them to sterilise the area and Ethan can drink the other to numb the pain. Do we have a blade in the first aid kit?” Blade, oh god a sharp blade. I breath heavily a couple of times until I’m under control, I can do this. Oz is going through the first aid kit.
“There’s a pocket knife.”
“That’ll do. You ready Lorne?” I wish they would ask me if I was ready.
*****
Lorne’s POV
Ethan is stretched out on the back seat on his stomach. It is still dark and nobody has driven past where we are sitting on the side of the road. The other’s are lying in the grass, star gazing apparently but by the sounds there is the occasional kiss involved as well. I’m straddling Ethan’s hips and using his pocket knife to dig around the tracer embedded in his shoulder while attempting to minimise the damage. The lack of sleep from constantly redoing that spell isn’t helping either. Faith is crouching in the doorway near Ethan’s head ready to help. Ethan has passed out from too much alcohol or pain, which I don’t know but I’m glad his not feeling anything anymore.
“How’s it going? Have you got underneath it yet?” I just stare up at Faith trying not to get angry. Really does it look like I’ve got it yet? Instead I decide to be a bit more charitable.
“They nestled it in between muscle and sinew. I don’t want to do him any damage so its going to take time.” I gently ease the knife down beside the tracer. “Pass me the tweezers please I think it will come out easily now.” She passes them to me silently and I use them to wriggle the offending piece of plastic in the wound, hopefully loosening its grasp. After a few minutes I manage to lever it out.
“YES!” Faith yells as I brandish the tracer.
“You got it?” Spike asks walking over to us looking dishevelled.
“What do you want me to do with it?” Who knew that such a small piece of plastic and electronics could cause us so many problems?
“This is what I’ll do with it.” Spike grabs the tracer then throws it on the ground. With glee Spike starts jumping up and down on the tracer.
“Those things are meant to endure I doubt jumping up and down on it will break it.” Wesley snuck up on us. I didn’t know he was there. I hear a crack and pieces of the tracer ricochet everywhere. Spike just smirks.
“Its called vampire strength, pet.” Wesley looked devastated and it doesn’t take reading aura’s to realise that Wesley had serious self-esteem issues. Oz had walked up with Lindsey and he now hugged Wes. “It’s almost dawn lets load up and go.”
*****
“Lorne, wake up its dusk and we’ve reached a town.”
“Huh?” I’m more asleep than awake.
“Its dark and we’ve found a town so that we can get supplies.” I open my eyes and Oz’s face swims into view. I was hoping that all of this was a dream and I was in Caritas. I feel a pang of sadness realising that if that was true I wouldn’t know these people. I look around noticing that we are parked at a petrol station. Wesley, Faith and Ethan are loading groceries into the boot.
“Where’s Spike and Lindsey?”
“Gone to buy blood.” I glance around again, it seems like they have everything under control so one question bugs me.
“Why am I awake?”
“To see if there is anything you need to pick up, plus Spike says we won’t stop from now until dawn when we will stop somewhere for the day so you might want to use the facilities.”
“Thanks Oz,” I reply getting out of the car and stretching my sore muscles. I study Oz under his mass of purple and yellow bruises. He was lucky there was no internal bleeding or maybe they deliberately avoided internal bleeding somehow. I go to ask how he is feeling when Spike and Lindsey come wandering back up with an esky.
“We found a tattoo parlour.” The others look blank at Lindsey’s apparent randomness but I have been waiting for something like this. I don’t have a problem with doing this but I wonder how the others who didn’t have prior knowledge about this factor when our relationship began will react. Ethan catches my eye and winks, it seems he has had enough experience with vampires to know that this was inevitable.
“Um, I like tattoos as much as the next person… maybe more but why are you excited that you found one in this one bar town?” Faith asks.
“I think we need to sit down and talk.” Spike locks the car and lead us over to the park across the road where we all sit around a park bench.
“What’s this about?” Wesley asks once we are all sitting on or around the bench.
“You all said you’d be mine, be my family, my entourage, part of my clan.”
“What’s that got to do with tattoos… oh, that makes sense.” Looks like Oz has figured it out. He doesn’t seem to be upset by this revelation maybe the other two who haven’t worked it out yet will be fine with it too. Spike ruffles Oz’s hair before continuing.
“You’re part of the Aurielian clan, with me as Master or leader if you want. Usually to be part of the clan the Master of Aurielius needs to approve but at the moment Aurielius is a bit separated and leaderless.” This is something I didn’t know about.
“Why?” I ask.
“A few years ago B took the Master of the order of Aurielius out,” Faith supplies. “But why wasn’t there a successor or something to take over?”
“Once the Master dies the Anointed One took over for a little while before I took him out. Usually the title goes to the favoured childe. Darla was the Masters favourite childe but Angel had already killed her. Angelus was her favourite but Angel has never made a claim to the title and many argue that the soul forfeits his right to it.”
“Well then who was Angelus’s favourite?” Ethan asks the question that I have a suspicion of what the answer is.
“I was his favoured,” Spike answers after a long pause and his voice seems to come from a long way off. “but I’m technically not his true childe, however his next favoured was Drusilla and her insane status definitely forfeits her. I’m her only childe.” Yes, I knew it, I’ve allied myself with the Aurielian Master.
“Holy Shit, you’re the Aurelius Master.” Faith exclaims.
“I could be but I haven’t claimed the title.”
“Why not?” Lindsey asks.
“I didn’t want it, it’s a hell of a responsibility and all that sitting around, not my cup of tea. Anyway I can’t claim it with the chip in my head.” Wesley puts his head in Spike’s lap making Spike smile.
“So you can just approve us into the Aurielius clan.” Ethan puts the conversation back on track.
“How can non-vampires be in the Aurielius clan? I mean I’m a vampire slayer, any other vampire sees me, they’ll try and kill me.”
“That’s where the tattoos come in love. Each master vampire has a tattoo with the first letter of their clan and a symbol that is unique to them.”
“The tattoo on your hip.” Oz supplies for those of s who haven’t seen Spike’s naked hip.
“Wait a minute how come the watcher’s Council doesn’t know any of this?” Wesley asks with his head resting on Spike’s thigh.
“It’s been a well protected secret and it needs to stay that way, okay?” Spike raised Wesley’s head to stare into his eyes waiting for a response.
“Like I’m going to be talking to any of those bigots again in my life time.”
“Wesley!” Spike growls.
“Sorry Master, I won’t tell anyone, I promise.” Wesley lowers his eyes in respect. Master?
“Right well any favoured individuals of a master’s court but not childer, are tattooed with the master’s mark.”
“So we’re going to the tattoo parlour to get your mark on us so that we will be safe from other vampires.” I supply.
“Yes, if another vampire hurts someone with a different master vampires mark on them then the whole clan will demand retribution.” Spike stands up gracefully and offers his hands to help the rest of us up. We set off to the tattoo parlour and I hear Spike talking to the wolves. “Sometimes an individual even closer to the master vampire is allowed another image in their tattoo as well, something individual. On top of the railroad spike and the A, I want the two of you to have a full moon floating through clouds. Maybe the A and the spike can be in the moon.”
“Everyone will know we’re werewolves.”
“Yes Wesley, if they can read the tattoos they will. They’ll also know that you’re mine.” That seems to placate the wolves.
“How come I don’t get a tattoo, Sire?”
“When Childer become master vampire in their own right, they swear alliance to they’re order and then get a tattoo of the letter and symbol that represents them.