Through the Looking Glass - Revisited

Protect female. Weak. Help her.

The abbreviated thoughts flashed through Angel's brain as he crouched beside a dark-haired human dressed in a sack cloth. She was breathing heavily, her heartbeat pounding loudly in his ears, the scent of fear tempting his nose. Angel's red eyes flicked around the area, resting briefly on the bodies littering the rocky incline. A small breeze ruffled the tufts of dark hair on his rough-skinned, horned green head. His pointed ears picked up the sounds of approaching footsteps and muffled voices.

Protect.

Angel snarled, his lips pulling back from his sharp ivory fangs. He leapt forward, half-running half-bounding with the use of his knuckles. He charged towards the two people walking up the rocky incline, the scents of flesh and blood filling his nostrils. The men's scents were familiar, but his demonic instincts overruled the small bits of intelligent thought flitting through his mind.

He was within striking distance when another scent invaded his senses, and he skidded to a halt. He sniffed the air. His ears picked up the sound of something scraping against rock.

"Didn't Angel say he locked Spike in the car?"

"Yeah. And wasn't Spike wearing a black shirt, not white?"

Angel's pointed ear twitched in the two men's direction as he looked around for the cause of the scraping. Their voices were familiar, too, and their danger level diminished.

The green, rough-skinned demon sniffed the air again. His red eyes caught sight of movement on top of a large boulder. He growled deeply in warning as another demon came into view, but cut off abruptly when the scent hit his nose again.

Mine.

"Now that's Spike."

"Which means this is... Angel?"

Angel took a step towards the boulder, eyes not leaving the other demon. Mine, his brain provided the word, though his instincts were telling him the same thing. Mine.

"Oh, I understand now. Angel has a soul whereas Spike does not, and that was why Angel still appeared human when we arrived in Pylea."

"And now, for some reason, Angel's given over to his demon side. And that's Spike up there. My gut is telling me we don't want to be standing here any longer."

"I agree."

The demon on the boulder shifted and bared his fangs. A low growl drifted down to Angel's ears. He also heard the two men circling around him and continue up the hill. The brief thought -- protect -- passed through his mind, but Spike's presence overrode the idea.

Mine.

Angel half-caught the other demon as he leapt off the boulder, and they tumbled down the rocky incline. Like animals, they didn't pause in attacking one another when their decent ended. Clawing, biting, hissing, snarling, their clothing was ripped in pieces as they fought. No rational thought interceded. Demonic instinct to dominate and claim ruled both vampires' actions.

Mine.

Angel sank his sharp fangs into the base of Spike's neck. Blood surfaced and swirled around his teeth before sliding down Spike's green skin. Angel's larger body blanketed the other demon's, pinning him to the hard ground. Spike bucked and writhed and tried to escape, growling and snapping, but Angel only held tighter as his manhood thickened.

Lifting his hips, Angel poked and jabbed his hardness at the bared body beneath him. Spike yipped loudly when he was pierced and bucked more wildly. Angel planted his knees between the demon's thighs and began pounding into the tight body under him. A subsonic growl rumbled in his chest as he viciously dominated the other vampire.

Mine.

Angel filled Spike, marking the other vampire with his scent and seed.

Mine.

He sucked hard on Spike's neck, drinking his blood, fangs scarring the area of the bite.

Mine.

Contentment. Rightness.

Pain.

Angel withdrew his fangs, rolled off Spike, and howled to the sky. Spike immediately made sounds of distress in the back of his throat, crawled over, and curled around the slightly rocking vampire. A long pink tongue bathed the rough green skin with soothing licks.

After a moment, the older vampire relaxed bonelessly, turned in the embrace, and nuzzled the younger demon.

*****

"Hey, Wes," Gunn said from his perch on top of the boulder, looking down at the two demons below. "What's Angel's curse trigger again?"

"A moment of perfect contentment," Wesley replied, assisting Fred, the girl they'd discovered at the top of the hill, to gather mushrooms.

"So, let's say, hypothetically, that Angel visited another dimension which brings out his true demon," Gunn said. "Could the curse be broken by the demon part of him achieving this moment?"

Wesley frowned. "I suppose it's a possibility."

"That's what I thought," Gunn pointed at the scene below, "because those two look pretty damn content."

Wesley climbed the rock beside Gunn and peered into the area below. "They do appear rather peaceful. Perhaps we should err on the side of caution and leave, eh?"

"My thoughts exactly."

Curled together like cats, their clothing in tatters, the two demons dozed in a patch of sunlight filtering through the trees.

A few days later, a rescued Cordelia, Wesley, Gunn, the Host, and Fred returned to L.A..

They left Angelus and Spike behind.

End