Title: Liberazione (Release)

Summary: Set during Orpheus. What if Faith didn’t take the drug when Angelus bit her?  Faith/Angelus of a sort.

A/N: Written for the darkficathon. Request/requirements at the end.

 

 

Pain radiated from her neck, through her bones and pumped along in her blood until her entire body throbbed with it. She struggled against waking up because she remembered the final minutes before she passed out in flashes; his teeth in her neck, the ecstasy of it all and the giddiness from losing so much blood, then blackness. She kept her eyes closed tight and used her other senses to tell her the circumstances she was about to wake up in. There was blood, she’d expected that and it bothered her less then other things, like the Italian Opera that drowned out all the other sounds.  She knew without looking that he was near. She used to dream of him in prison, of him, never Angel, hands under the covers, head turned into the pillow to drown out her cries.

 

“Come on, Faithy. I know you’re awake. Open your eyes so the fun can begin.”

 

His voice was the same arrogant, cocky, slip of sex she’d remembered in her dreams.

 

The gig was up as one of her ‘uncles’ would have said. She opened her eyes, taking in her surroundings. She was chained to the ceiling in an empty warehouse. The windows were boarded up and the floor beneath her feet was cement. One corner of the warehouse had been outfitted as a bedroom with a mattress, a pile of luxurious bedclothes and of course the stereo the Opera played on.

 

“Angelus,” she finally acknowledged him.

 

He swaggered in front of her, amazing her at the difference between him and Angel. It might be the same body but what he did with that body made everything else different. His eyes raked over her, somehow making her feel dirtier then any of her mother’s boyfriends ever had.

 

“Not the slayer I would have picked, but hey, slayer in chains. Who am I to argue?”

 

“B never was much of a whips and chains girl as I remember it,” Faith shot back.

 

She enjoyed seeing the little flash of annoyance that took over his features an instant before he covered it with more arrogance.

 

“She was just inexperienced. I could teach her to like a lot of things, but that’s neither here nor there since she’s not the one in chains,” Angelus said as he got a cigarette out of a silver case. He lit it with silver lighter monogrammed with the initials LH. He inhaled deeply then exhaled a cloud of bluish smoke. “What’s important here are the things I’m going to teach you.”

 

“Sorry big guy, but if it’s been done, I’ve probably been there and done that. Doesn’t mean we can’t have a round or two.”

 

Angelus grinned wickedly at her, sending a chill down her spine. “You’re tough, aren’t you Faith? At least you’d like everyone to think you are, but I’ve seen you weak. I watched that nancy Angel hold you while you cried about all the blood on your hands. “

 

“It’s called redemption, look it up asshole,” Faith snarked determined not to let him get to her. “Oh wait, you don’t have to. You spent decades locked in a boxful of it.”

 

“To the casual observer, you’re an all purpose girl, Faith. You fight, you screw, you damn sure know the importance of leather and then when a guy really makes your heart go pitter pat, offers you a second chance to be the good slayer, you get all cute and vulnerable, let the guy sweep in on his white horse and save the day. But there’s one thing you don’t know how to do. And that’s what I’m going to teach you,” Angelus said as he took the cigarette out of his mouth and focuses on the glowing red tip. “I’m going to teach you how to scream.”

 

“You’ll have to do better then a few cigarette burns. Mom taught me that one early on,” Faith smirked.

 

“Oh I intend to,” Angelus grinned.

 

 

*

 

 

She’d lasted for hours, quite a few of them under her belt before she screamed, but this was what he did. He’d spent a hundred and fifty years perfecting the art of torture. He made what Faith had done to Wesley look like child’s play and Faith’s body was a map of that destruction. Angelus had stripped her down and blanketed her body with bruises, marks, cuts and burns. She hung limply in the chains, her hair falling over her face. Angelus circled her like a shark, watching her. He stepped closer to her and licked blood off her shoulder blade. “So Faithy, say Uncle and it’ll all stop,” he whispered in her ear.

 

“Go to hell,” Faith hissed between bloody teeth. She had to wait for a mistake, for him to unlock her chains and give her a chance to run. She knew she was on her own. The others wouldn’t look for her. Wes had made it clear sacrificing her was something he was perfectly comfortable doing. She was the other slayer, the one that had been a lost cause and their last resort.

 

“Oh I will, Sweetheart, but not before I’ve managed to convince you that you’re there too,” he said as he pulled a hot poker out of a wood-burning stove. He turned back to Faith with a half grin on his lips. “See, the problem with pokers and humans is knowing where to stick them where they won’t kill you, but trust me no matter where I put it; it’s going to hurt like a son of a bitch.”

 

 

The sun was coming up and the warehouse walls still reverberated with the sound of Faith’s screams when Angelus approached her again. This time he grabbed a fistful of her hair and pulled her head up so that he could look in her eyes. He was surprised at the amount of spitfire still there and he asked a question he knew the answer to. “Ready to say uncle?”

 

She spit in his face. He merely wiped it away with a silk handkerchief, took Angel’s cell phone out of his pocket and dialed a number. “I need you to meet me here. Bring some of bags of O pos and prepare to set up an IV.”

 

Real fear trickled through Faith, oozing out of her skin and in the breath she exhaled as she realized he had no intention of killing her.

 

 

*

 

 

Angelus sat on a tall stool in front of Faith, just far enough away that she couldn’t reach him even if she had the energy or will to fight left in her.  “One word, Faith and this will all go away.  Just let go and stop fighting it. All you have to do is say, Uncle, sweetheart and it will disappear.”

 

“You’ll let me go?” Her voice was a thin thread of hope, ragged, hanging by a string but there.

 

“In a manner of speaking,” Angelus promised. He watched with fascination as her internal struggle was expressed on her face. He knew the moment she gave up before she said anything.

 

“Uncle,” she whispered.

 

“That’s my girl,” Angelus grinned as he roughly pulled Faith close to him. He grabbed a handful of her hair and jerked her head to the left, baring her throat. He slipped his fangs into her throat, keeping his promise to take away all of the pain.

 

 

*

 

 

Her new world flooded in before she even opened her eyes.  Her skin was more alive, the velvet and satin textures of the blankets beneath her and draped across her body tingled, caressed her. She took a deep breath out of desire to find out more about her surroundings rather then out of necessity. There was blood and it was the only scent that mattered to her. The hunger rose out of her like a living thing, dragging her with it. Her eyes flew open to find Angelus sitting across from her inspecting his fingernails.

 

“You’re awake,” he observed. “I brought dinner.” His eyes flitted over to the girl chained across the room. “I had to gag her. The begging was nice, but after a while the screams just got tiresome. I took her out for a test drive. Blood tastes like sugar, gotta say she’s not much of a lay though.”

 

The girl hanging from the chains looked hollowly at Faith and Angelus. The spark had long been snuffed out her by the things Angelus had done to her. He’d given up in disgust. He had little use for a human that gave up the will to live after a couple of hours of torture.

 

Faith stood up, still naked and sauntered toward the girl. She stopped in front of her, tilted her head and regarded the girl as one might regard a lobster in a tank. Angelus snuck up behind her, nibbling at her neck. “She was weak, Faithy. Not like you. A couple of hours of torture, a little bit of rape and she was begging for me to kill her. I wanted to toss her out the door she disgusted me so, but then I remembered you needed to eat.”

 

The girl’s eyes pleaded with Faith, not yet realizing she’d get no help from the former slayer. Faith circled her, sizing her up. “Is that true?” She asked the girl, her whiskey smoke voice sliding over the girl’s skin and making her sob. The girl nodded hesitantly after a moment.  Faith clucked under her breath as she picked up a scalpel from a makeshift table. She dragged it across the girl’s collarbone, her eyes following the line of blood that appeared. She licked it sensuously. “You know, there are people who believe you can achieve purification through pain. I think I wanna test that theory.”

 

Angelus couldn’t be prouder. She was precisely what he needed thinking of torture before food. She was perfect for the purpose he had made her.

 

*

 

 

He watched as she paced the warehouse. She didn’t have the patience to wait for sunset. “Would you sit still for a moment?” he growled. “Read something.”

 

“I’m bored. What the hell do you do with all your time?” She snapped. Her eyes lit up like a little girl and she pounced in front of him, landing in a crouch on the balls of her feet. “We could screw again.”

 

“Or we could talk about what we’re going to do tonight,” Angelus said as he put down his book.

 

“Murder, mayhem, maybe stop by a nightclub and dance some before more murder and mayhem,” Faith suggested.

 

“That plan is fine, but I had in mind very directed murder and mayhem.” A slow, wicked grin spread across his face and he leaned forward and began to enlighten her. She was natural at this but she needed a little coaching, shaping, a small nudge in the right direction. Destruction was a beautiful thing, but when it was honed and purposeful it could be breath taking.

 

 

*

 

 

It was easy to get an invitation from Fred. She was so surprised and so happy to see Faith that she ushered her in without even a thought. Faith made her death quick and painless in return. She carried her body upstairs at Angelus’ direction, dressed her in a slinky nightgown and arranged her on Wes’ bed then she sat in the chair in the corner and waited for the former watcher to find his present.

 

Faith got bored before Wes returned and went looking for Connor. She found him crouched on the edge of the roof like a vigil ante watching over the city.

 

“Faith?” He sprung to the balls of his feet, his nostrils flaring. “He let you go?”

 

Faith shrugged in answer. “Kicked his ass, didn’t have much of a choice.” She swaggered toward Connor. “So we alone here?”

 

Connor watched her carefully, his eyes narrowed and his entire body tense.  He tracked her, always staying on the defensive. “Wes is getting some books from his place. Cordy is resting.”

 

“Yeah, must be a bitch being pregnant during the apocalypse of the century. It’s all slay twenty four seven down there and she’s trapped up here.”

 

“Cordy can hold her own but she’s not much for going to look for a fight,” Connor replied. He knew something was going on with Faith but he couldn’t place it. “Where were you the last couple of nights?”

 

“I don’t know. Once I got away from Angelus I found a hole to crawl into and heal,” Faith dismissed as she circled Connor, trailing her hand across his back, around his waist and stopping low on his hip. She slipped in close to him, her lips nuzzling at his neck. “Is it really important?” she asked in a husky whisper.

 

Connor jumped away from her like she burned. “Cordy is having my baby. Sh-she and I are a family now. I’m going to be a good father. Better then Angel ever was to me.”

 

“Sure you will, Kid. Doesn’t mean we can’t have some fun in the meantime,” she replied as she stepped closer to him, winding her arms around him and hooking her fingers in the waistband of his pants. Angelus had counted on Connor’s hormones being his downfall.  She watched, fascinated as Connor swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing. She could hear his blood pounding through his veins and the lust coming off him in waves.  He bucked against her as she sunk her fangs into his neck. She pulled him backwards, taking him down to the ground.  He stopped struggling as the ecstasy took over. She stopped, just as Angelus had coached her as his heart slowed down and his pulse went sluggish. She tore into her wrist and held it to Connor’s lips. He gulped greedily at the blood and she felt like for once in her life someone belonged entirely to her.

 

 

*

 

 

When Connor woke up, Faith and Angelus were arguing.

 

“Oh, come on. Do you still have feelings for the Princess? I thought you got over the Sunnydale girls when you turned me.”

 

“My feelings for that bitch Cordelia have nothing to do with not allowing you to kill her.  You have no patience, Faith. It’s no fun if you end the game all in one day. I accomplished what I intended to.  Wes and Gunn will be tormented over Fred’s death and likely end up killing each other. Cordelia will mourn over losing Connor. We’ll go back for round two in a few days, let Connor take care of Cordelia and see how Wes and Gunn are fairing.”

 

“Who the hell are you to give me orders? You think because you had a good day and took me down you’ve earned some sort of hold over me?” Faith got in Angelus’ face.

 

Angelus curled iron fingers over Faith’s shoulders. “Let’s get one thing straight, Faith. I didn’t have a good day. I’m better then you and there will only be one alpha dog in this family. That’s me.”

 

“Kiss my ass,” Faith spit in Angelus’ face and start squirming. Angelus sighed, immensely put out.  He slammed his fist into her face, knocking her backwards. He picked her up by her ankle and tossed her across the warehouse then loped over to her side in long strides. He broke off a piece of a wooden crate as he walked. In one fluid moment he plunged the makeshift stake into Faith’s heart. She looked surprised, betrayed and oddly hurt. Her lips formed the word why?

 

“I told you, Faithy. You weren’t the slayer I’d pick,” Angelus grinned wickedly as she turned to dust. He looked to Connor who stared at him with a mixture of hate and awe.

 

“Come on, Son, let’s go get the rest of our family.”

 

 

 

Faith/Angelus, some Angel thrown in if
possible. What if she hadn't taken the Orpheus drug
when Angelus bit her? What does he do with her, and
what happens to the world after that? Make it as dark
as you like, but make it somewhat twistedly romantic
and/or hot (sex is not required, just sexiness).