Chapter 3 – In Noctem
Are you sure you're so clean and pure,
As you lie here in front of me now?
And you're tempting the lord of darkness,
As you see what's forbidden to see… - Into the Night by Tony Iommi, feat. Billy Idol
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She was running. Running till the burn in her lungs was imploring her to slow down, and then she ran some more. She couldn’t get enough of the distance between herself and that god-forsaken place fast enough. She stumbled down on the rocky path a few times over, cutting her palm on the sharp rocks, but she only picked herself up and continued with her mad flight, even when her bare feet bled.
Finally, she reached the safety of the forest, praying that branches and thick trunks of trees would hide her from their burning eyes and sharp claws.
She hid herself behind the biggest oak and tried to breathe, the sharp force of the cold air was scraping at her throat and her heart was painfully hammering in her chest. She was soaked with sweat, her body was overheating, but she hadn’t noticed it. The only things on her mind were words like: safety…, hide…, disappear… run.
She looked carefully behind the wide bark, and then, when she saw no one, resumed her mad dash through the forest, not sure where she would end up. She desperately wished nobody was chasing at her heels yet, even though she knew very well that she stood no chances against the faster horses if they decided to gain upon her that way.
So she ran further. Her bare feet were softly padding at the leave-covered floor, prickling at her wounded soles, even as every crunch of a snapped twig or rustle of the bushes she passed, was one noise too many.
‘God, let them be far away,… let them get lost,… make them leave her alone...’
She ran forever, it would seem, but she just couldn’t stop. The fear she felt was driving her feet like hounds of hell were chasing her. Because that is what they were, soulless monsters with their blazing forked tongues, just inches away from touching her… Buffy couldn’t afford to look back and see for herself; she could stumble again and then they would pounce…
She was completely and utterly terrified.
The other sounds of a night were reaching her ears; the hooting owls… soft wind caught in the leaves… flutter of wings… and her ragged breath escaping her throat in uneven intervals.
After an eternity had passed, she finally saw the opening at the far end in front of her. It was the edge of the forest and when she reached it, after stumbling at least once or twice more in almost complete darkness, she was met with a wonderful sight.
There, among the gravestones and wooden crosses, stood a church. A church! The House of God, where she could hide… beasts like him couldn’t enter there, right?
She felt terribly exposed without the safety of the branches, when she tentatively stepped out of the concealment of the trees. Still, she prayed the night without moon would be enough of a cover for her. She’d be safe as soon as she enters the holy grounds, she was sure…
Buffy woke up. She was shaking all over and was drenched in perspiration. For a second she panicked when she was met with nothing but hollow darkness surrounding her, but then the memories of a present came back along with her dreams, and she curled on the cold floor, trying to preserve that little warmth she held, while pressing fist to her mouth, so she wouldn’t let out the agonizing cries for entire world to hear.
‘’Rise and shine, Goldenlocks!’’
She tensed at the sound, nearly yelped; her body grew rigid and unmoving.
But… hadn’t Buffy heard that voice before? Before… no, after… but how…why here?… wasn’t he supposed to be…?
Before she could move or finish the thought of recognition in her head, the sound of the iron squeaking was heard, followed by the heavy footsteps, and she was suddenly dragged to her feet roughly by the hair. She suppressed the surprised yelp at the pain that the action brought and closed her eyes tight. She wasn’t ready for another dream to be smashed into pieces. Because that dream wasn’t unpleasant at all…
‘’Open your eyes, wench!’’
No…no…no… Wasn’t that voice supposed to belong to an angel that saved her? Why is he harming her?
Her bare feet hurt when she was forced to stand, due to the tiny wounds she got from the razor sharp stones she ran across bare foot last night. Was it last night? Or is it still today? Was it…is it morning already...?
Her thoughts were cut short again, this time by that low voice she heard before and it was speaking to her now again, sounding menacing and unpleased. Still, she couldn’t concentrate on anything but the assault upon her injuries at right this moment.
Fisted hand in her hair, pulling at her injured scalp.
Dull pain she felt in her abdomen as she was stretched.
The sharp prickling at the soles of her feet, where she cut herself on rocks.
The hunger and terror gripping at her stomach.
And coldness surrounding her, making her body to shudder uncontrollably.
This entire onslaught on her tender body was enough for her to feel sick and faint. Her trembling feet couldn’t hold the pressure of her tiny weight any longer, and her knees buckled, which caused his hold on her hair to intensify and pull violently in the opposite direction of her downward fall.
This time, she couldn’t hold back the scream.
‘’Be quiet!’’
She almost blacked out, would welcome thick darkness this time, but there was that voice again, this time not as indifferent as before, but angry, enraged even. She shivered violently when he tugged her head up, causing her eyes to snap open involuntarily, and locked his gaze with hers for the first time.
Oh, how she was surprised, even as she expected it now. He really wasn’t an angel after all… He was the Devil. That Devil.
She noted his blonde hair first, combed back from his well sculptured face.
So, this is how the Devil looks up close, she mused numbly, as she finally looked deep into his eyes. They were icy blue. And just as cold. No compassion in sight but hardness that belied his beautiful voice and handsome features.
He was the perfect embodiment of the alluring monster that she was warned about by her belated Mother and the Church. She fully expected that she’d see the fangs, should he ever smile.
She hoped he never would.
The back of her head hurt so badly where he still held her hair, she almost pleaded to be let go. Couldn’t he spare her at least a little? She was injured there already; the heavy blow she received earlier that night had almost split her in half. Not by him, but by another… and maybe this one doesn’t know about that yet…
‘’Stop screaming, you evil bint! This is not even the smidge of the real pain that awaits you.’’ He growled low in his throat and then he lowered his voice even further as he leant down and yanked her head forward to whisper menacingly into her ear, causing shivers of terror to aquiver her body again. Will she ever stop shaking?
‘’SHUT UP!’’
Oh. She hadn’t realized she was still screaming. She felt positively sick by this point and tried not to dry-heave by the end of his next words.
‘’If I were you, I’d wait to use your vocal chords for later, pet. Christ knows, how much I’m looking forward to make your throat bleed raw just because you’d scream so hard…’’
He then let go of her and watched as she fell face forward to the ground, barely managing to prevent the clash of her face with the floor by catching herself with hands.
‘’What’s your name, witch?’’
His voice was indifferent again, which surprised her to no end of how he could change his behavior so drastically so fast.
She didn’t answer, only laid there, propped up slightly on her forearms, trying to compose herself well enough before she tried to utter a word; nevertheless, she had a hard time working on that. She was swallowing thickly, praying she wouldn’t be sick. Her breath was shallow, quick and shuddering. The tremors from the chill itself were doing her no good as well. She willed her body to stop trembling, though the task was futile.
But she didn’t cry.
Throbbing and stinging pain was assailing her all over the body and she thought she might go into shock if she doesn’t get the moment of a reprieve.
Minutes had passed and she finally gained control of herself well enough, so she could lift her head slowly and looked straight ahead. She locked her gaze on the black riding boots she saw before her eyes, just a few inches from her face, and just knew he was still waiting for her to answer… what was it again?...
‘’C’mon, witch, I hate to be hurting a girl on our first meeting, without knowing her name.’’
Oh. That. And there was even another promise of pain in there…
‘’B-Buffy A-Anne S-S-Summers.’’ she managed to gasp out through her gritted teeth. They were chattering so hard she was amazed that she could use her mouth at all. ‘’A-and I’m not a w-wit-witch.’’ The last words she whispered so low she didn’t think he heard her. at least she hoped not.
He did, however, because he chuckled. She tried to glare at him, but failed miserably. The tears in her eyes gave her away. Besides, he had no eyes on his shoes now, did he? The glare in her eyes melted away.
‘’Yea?’’ he mocked. His voice sounded positively amused. ‘’ Then why are you here and not out there…?’’
Buffy further raised her eyes to see that he pointed somewhere in the direction that she figured it was leading the way out.
‘’Where all the good girls are... Dancing in the sun, working hard?’’ he continued in a mocking question. ‘’Why aren’t you out there, you reckon?’’
She just watched him silently; very sure that anything she tells him now would be the wrong thing to say. He had his eyebrow raised, probably waiting for her to snap at him and insult him unwittingly, like a foolish simple woman he thought no doubt that she was.
That she was not. She finally decided on the soft whisper of, ‘’I don’t’ know. I…’’ she trailed off. She really didn’t know why she was here. Not anymore.
When she didn’t continue however, he did.
‘’I know why not, Buffy.’’
He rolled her name out slowly, deliberately mocking now even that. the small thing as her name. By the end of the day, Buffy thought, there would be nothing left of her that he wouldn’t touch with sharp words or hands, and destroy it. She would be put to her place, ridiculed and humiliated, until she believed everything he’d say. She’d be treated as a lowest of the creatures, not anymore as a human being. Reduced to feel like she was nothing.
But she was already used to that, wasn’t she…?
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Lord William Rayne was again prematurely losing his patience. Not that he was not known already for his low temper and no tolerance towards the people he was appointed to torture, but the anger at himself for even thinking of her differently than any other sinful wenches, wasn’t helping to calm his ire either.
And oh, he was angry at himself alright, the girl hadn’t left him alone even in his sleep last night. Even now he knew that the next time he goes to sleep, he would meet her there again, all pale looking and glowing in the sunshine, smiling for him with her radiant smile he’d yet to see. Her dress would be more revealing this time, most definitely due to her pale slender leg, peeking from under her torn dress right now, no less…
Damned witch. He needed to leash his mind right away.
‘’I know why not, Buffy.’’ He repeated the statement, when it was apparent that she was too frightened to open her mouth again.
Her mouth… Christ! Her name even… like every little tiny piece of her was made…, no, created to taunt him, entice him… alluring him to follow… He trailed off again!
‘’Because you are where you belong now.’’ He growled out, his inner demon in complete agreement with his spoken words. Must her hair glisten so prettily in the flickering light of the torch he lit on the wall? He tried to ignore the quivering of her lips. ‘’You belong here, in this cold cell, at my mercy – not that you’ll be given any.’’
He was pleased to see the pure terror glistening in her eyes as she watched him from the floor at his feet. Beneath him. He has to gain control over himself this instant, if not by anything else, then by threatening her. To gain control. Over her fear, over he life.
Over her…
Damn you, William! Stop looking at her! But he had to keep the eye contact. It was to show her his power over her. And he has to continue, or she would know what she’s doing to him… and she would take advantage of his minute weakness.
‘’You shall soon feel like at home with all the pain, but know this - your stay here will be brief.’’ He had no doubt about it. She looked too weak to last long at his hands, and he should know how to predict this quite accurately by all of his experiences so far. Spike shifted his weight to the other leg. ‘’Torture itself shall be minimal if you confess your sins immediately, witch.’’
There. If he calls her like that, he would look at her that way as well. And no longer flicker his gaze down where her leg was still showing…
He hadn’t taken his eyes off her form. He willed himself to look higher though. Her face was ashen and a little bit tinged with green. She looked absolutely sick and frightened out of her mind; knuckles of her right hand that was clutching her ripped halves of the bodice in front of her dress together were white. The other was balled into fist by her side. Her teeth chattered along with the rest of her body.
But he wouldn’t stop now. He has to show her that he wasn’t allured by her wicked charms.
‘’If you do not confess, I shall be personally responsible to make you see that refusing to do so is a mistake. The one you shall be paying not only in this life, but beyond as well.’’
She started to sway and her eyes were beginning to flutter weakly.
‘’Consider yourself already in hell.’’ He concluded as she crumpled at his feet.
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As the darkness dotted its black specks before her eyes, the only thought in her mind was, before Buffy fell into the oblivion, who was the person that condemned her first…?
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Angelus woke up by the movements beside him. He opened his eyes and immediately they fed greedily on the beautifully sculptured form of his mistress, as she stretched beside him like a well sated cat. Her skin was fair and unblemished, gleaming in the soft light of the candlelight. He stretched his hand forward and trailed down her spine with his roughened fingers. The result were goose bumps, spreading slowly all over her body.
He pulled her towards him by the tiny waist, to press her back with his front. He buried his nose at her raven black hair. ‘’Morning.’’
‘’Mmmm… ‘’ she purred. ‘’So, my dearest… have you come here to tell me something last night? Has my Avenging Demon been a good boy?’’ Drusilla’s voice was chiming in echoes through the dungeon.
Angelus grinned behind her, delighted he could tell her that he succeeded the task. She sounded like an eager child, waiting for a rare sweet. And he only wanted to make her giggle again for him.
‘’I have succeeded, my princess.’’ He purred seductively into her hair. ‘’The deed is done; now all we have to do is wait for the events to unfold themselves in our favor.’’
Drusilla, as it was expected, giggled in delight and pressed herself even further back into his chest, wiggling her bottom to his crotch, noting he was already so very hard for her… ‘’Oohh, does the Princess get any details? Will you share?’’ her hand snaked back to his cheek and he nuzzled into it, chuckling darkly.
‘’I don’t know, my sweet…’’
Her hand slid from his cheek and she lightly trailed with it downwards, until it stopped upon his hard manhood behind her back. She traced its length with one finger, his member twitching at the contact. ‘’Will my Dark Angel share his secrets now?’’
Angelus smirked, self satisfied and, beyond being aroused, he removed her hand, twisting their bodies till he was poised above her, looking into her amused eyes with a lopsided grin. ‘’She screamed… A lot.’’
TBC...
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Author's Chapter Notes:
This chapter is extra long, mainly Spuffy but not at all fluffy. Not right now at least, because it can't be.
I hope you will like it. I beta it myself, so if you find any faults do contact me, ok? :)
A big THANK YOU to all of my old reviewers and a few new ones (gopher101, victoria, Brittany and total geek), that were so kind to let me know what they thought about the previous chapter. Thank you everyone! You guys are awesome!
I hope you will like it. I beta it myself, so if you find any faults do contact me, ok? :)
A big THANK YOU to all of my old reviewers and a few new ones (gopher101, victoria, Brittany and total geek), that were so kind to let me know what they thought about the previous chapter. Thank you everyone! You guys are awesome!
Chapter End Notes:
Oh... If you were wondering about 'Goldenlocks'... I just wanted to keep the name - Spike was just describing her hair... but I couldn't do it with Goldilocks, since the story itself (Goldilocks and three bears) was written a whole lot later I think.. somewhere in the 19th century? :)
Reviews please? They feed my need for writing. The last ones were making me all tingly and happy! And look how long the chapter was! :D
Reviews please? They feed my need for writing. The last ones were making me all tingly and happy! And look how long the chapter was! :D