Nexus Chapter 13
Angelus dropped down onto the sofa with a sigh of satisfaction, the ever–present bottle of Fyarlian brandy in one hand, the end of a long leather leash clutched in the other.
Xander, familiar with the new routine, stood passively, waiting for his master´s direction. With a sharp downward tug on the leash attached to his whore´s collar, Angelus directed the boy to a seat on the hard floor at his feet, grinning at the boy´s obvious discomfort at the pressure of the stones against his well–used ass.
Things were better, so much better now. His unease about his attachment to the boy had vanished once Angelus began asserting his dominance, and the boy settled into a welcome pattern of submission. Floating in a warm sea of confident well–being, the vampire helped himself to a long draught of his new favorite beverage then grinned at the crowd of eager foot soldiers lining up to tell him of their adventures and successes.
An hour or so into the audience, and Angelus, sipping steadily at the brandy at his elbow, was wishing for a quick end to it. He was rock hard, and anticipating the moment when they would all go away and leave him with his greedy little boywhore. Why, though, he thought abruptly, should he wait? Xander was right here, now! Winding the leash around his fist to shorten it, he opened his pants as he pulled Xander between his thighs. He waited for the sweet pressure of the warm mouth, then frowned down at his slut when it was not immediately forthcoming. Xander was pulling against the leash, looking panicked, saying something…Well, this couldn´t be allowed.
Growling, he cuffed the boy, nearly knocking him over, then wound his hand painfully in the dark hair, jerking the reluctant head down hard. Finally, the warm mouth started doing what it was supposed to be doing, and Angelus, with a soft snarl of pleasure, turned his attention back to the business at hand.
Minutes later, the minion paused, waiting patiently but pretending not to notice as his master came with a grunt into the mouth of his human toy, then resumed his report as Angelus pulled the dazed–looking boy off his cock and zipped up, ignoring the human as it subsided at the master‘s feet, crying softly. His master deliberated, then gave his minion instructions. As the next stepped forward to confer, the master grinned at some private joke and reached into his pocket, withdrawing a dollar bill and dropping it onto the lap of the leashed human at his feet.
Finally, they were all gone, and Angelus rose, stretched blissfully, then headed for the stairs, the blowjob just an appetizer. Dragged along at the end of the leash, his Xander scrambled after him. Gods, he was one hot little slut, and the harder he got fucked, the hotter he got.
Anticipating, Angelus hurried into the chamber, flinging his slut onto the bed. “Gonna fuck you.” he whispered. “Gonna fuck you so hard!”
“Master! ” Dammit, he was talking again, after he´d been told, time and time again not to speak without an invitation. “Please, master! ”
“Shit. That´s it.”Angelus went to the chest in the wardrobe and took something out, returning to display it to the boy. Xander caught his breath at the sight of it. It was a gag, the leather straps attached to a broad oval panel of firm leather. In the center of it was set a vaguely phallic protrusion, some two and a half inches long and better than an inch across.
Roughly, Angelus forced the hard, leather–covered knob into Xander´s mouth, snugging the wide panel against his mouth and buckling the thing tightly around the boy´s head. Like the collar, it fastened with a tiny lock. Angelus stood back, studying the sight of Xander now thoroughly silenced. “Oh, yeah. That´s better. Much, much better.”
He stripped the boy´s pants down, then opened his own trousers. “Now bend over, slut. Earn your fee. Yeah, that´s it. Bend over and take it.”
Forty–eight hours later:
With an effort of will, Xander retreated into his imagination, where he increasingly spent his time these days. Here, a soft voice called him sweet names, and strong arms held him, strong hands stroked him and comforted him and fed him egg rolls.
The ability to retreat into his own mind was a recently–acquired and completely necessary skill. Real life had become too horrible to bear, a nightmare of pain, humiliation, and diminishing hope. Xander recalled that less than a week ago, he had been mortified because the vampire jerked him off in front of his minions. Since then, the vampire had taken to forcing Xander to suck him while he took meetings, grumbling over the necessity of having to remove the gag to do so. Xander speculated tiredly that it was just a matter of time before the vampire decided to fuck him in front of everyone, or maybe started awarding blowjobs from his very own personal slave to favorite minions.
Tonight, for the first time, the vampire had dragged Xander downstairs stark naked except for the collar and gag. Xander had sat, head down, shamed and dejected at the vampire´s feet, the floor cold and hard against his bruised bare skin, rising tiredly to his knees when the inevitable tug on the leash signaled that it was time to perform.
Once back upstairs, there had been the customary hard fuck, and the usual dollar bill proffered with a smirk; Angelus never seemed to get tired of that joke. Now, having accused Xander of “sulking,” Angelus was killing time by artistically striping his slave from shoulder to heels with a riding crop.
The vampire cursed as a soft knock on the door interrupted his sport. Crossing the room and throwing the door open impatiently, he beheld Chip, face carefully impassive, arms laden down with fast–food containers.
Angelus frowned. “I didn´t ask for anything.”
“It´s for your human, Master.”
Angelus looked over his shoulder at Xander still lying as he had been placed. “And I know damn well he didn´t ask for it. He´s not saying much these days.”He tilted the bottle and took a long swallow, then turned a frown on the minion. “So, I´m guessing that you just took it upon yourself to do it.”
Chip swallowed hard, but stood his ground. “It was your command to me that I protect him and care for him, Master.”He dropped his eyes and added softly. “They have to eat.”
After a moment´s thought, Angelus shrugged and handed a small key to the minion, beckoning him inside. “You´ll need that.” He buttoned his shirt and shrugged into his leather jacket. “Put it back on him after he´s eaten.”With that, he strode out, closing the door behind him.
Once Angelus was gone, Chip went into action, drawing the armchair close to the fire and laying out food on the small table beside it. Then he hurried to the side of his human master, who was sluggishly sitting up. “He´s gone, master, he´ll be gone a while. Allow me…”With gentle hands, the minion unlocked the leather gag and eased it from Xander´s face. The boy moaned, massaging his jaw, glancing up gratefully as Chip draped the soft comforter around his shoulders.
“I´ve put your food by the fire, Master Xander. You can get warm while you eat.”Xander nodded and accepted the minion´s helping arm as he stood and made his painful way across the room. As Xander settled gingerly into the chair, grateful for the comforter and the heat of the fire on his chilled flesh, Chip hastily added more wood, then knelt beside his master and began to unpack the bags.
He extracted two large covered paper cups and handed one to Xander. “I thought you might want water to start with. It´s cold, so don´t drink it too fast. It´ll come back up.”Xander would have drunk it all, but Chip gently took it away and gave him a cup of mashed potatoes and gravy. “Start with this, Master. Something soft until your jaw gets used to moving again. Then there´s chicken, and green beans. And some pie. Root beer in the other cup.”
Xander smiled wearily at the minion. “You´re the best, Chip. I think you saved my life.”
“I´ll try it again tomorrow, Master.”Having unpacked the food and spread it out before his master, Chip bent and tucked the folds of the comforter about the boy´s cold feet.
“If I´m still around by tomorrow.” Xander murmured dejectedly.
Chip looked up and met the boy´s eyes. “Master, he´ll get tired of it, or he´ll run out. You just have to last until then.”
Xander knew he was half–starving, but couldn´t seem to make himself eat. “I´ve been down this road before,” he said bitterly, thinking of the years of suffering at his father´s hands. “And I know how it works. He´s not going to quit. And at the rate he´s going, his supply is going to last him at least a month. I´ll never survive a month of this. And even if I do, trust me, he´s going to find a way to get more.”
Chip sat in silence for a time, seemingly thinking hard. Eventually, he met Xander´s eyes again, a look of resolve on his face. “Whenever you think it´s time, I´ll get you out of here, and back home.”
Xander stared, taken aback. “Chip, if he knew you said that to me, he´d kill you.”
“Master, if I stand by and let him kill you, he´s going to kill me anyway as soon as he sobers up.”
They sat in glum silence for a time, then Xander looked up and grinned wryly. “Well, we´re both just screwed aren´t we?”
Chip gave him a rare half–smile. “So it seems. Now, please eat, Master. I´ll run a bath for you.”
Xander nodded eagerly. “That would be great.”He made himself take a few bites, and his appetite came rushing back. Eagerly, he began to demolish the food in front of him.
Half an hour later, freshly clean and his physical needs met, Xander felt almost human again. Invaluable Chip had tidied the room and changed the sheets while Xander bathed, and Xander thanked him again for all of it. The minion stood now, most of his duties taken care of, looking inexpressibly sad. “Put it back on him after he´s eaten,” Angelus had said. Glad to be able to return the minion´s kindness by sparing him this, Xander picked up the hated gag, sent his minion one last sunny grin, then buckled the thing on himself, clicking the lock into place.
Chip looked at Xander with gratitude and relief, then took Xander´s hand and bowed low, pressing his forehead to the back of it before leaving the room, closing the door quietly behind him.
After that, Chip bearded the lion in his den on a nightly basis, doing his best to time it so that he showed up just as Angelus was finishing up whatever obscene abuse he had chosen for Xander that night and getting ready to go out.
When he got the timing right, Angelus would give him the key to the gag and leave them alone. Those times saved Xander from starvation, and saved his sanity.
When Chip got the timing wrong, Angelus would stop whatever he was doing to Xander long enough to shout out the door that Xander hadn´t earned a reward and get the fuck away, and Xander went hungry for another twenty–four hours.
Pretty soon, though, Chip figured out how to get it right more often then not. During those times, Xander never failed to be astounded by the vampire´s compassion. While he was meeting Xander´s basic needs for food, water and warmth, he tried to meet his master´s emotional needs as well. Aware of Xander´s crushed dignity, he treated the boy with scrupulous respect. Most difficult of all for him, he talked to his young master, providing his only friendly contact with another being.
“Chip, what did you used to be? Before you were turned?”Some of the welts on Xander´s back were showing signs of infection, and Chip was applying antibiotic ointment. It stung, and Xander was looking to distract himself from the pain.
Chip paused for a moment, as though he hadn´t thought much about it. “I was a teacher. A professor of English poetry at the University of Sunnydale.”
“Wow. Okay, well, I guess that´s why you´re smarter than the others. And not crazy like them.”Xander winced as the minion smoothed the cream carefully over one of the worst of the stripes.
“I was a pretty dull guy, actually, I guess. Forty–six years old, never married, just sitting around among my books day in and day out.”
Xander was smiling. “You sound just like someone I know.”
“Well, I guess there are a lot of us dusty old academics.”Chip applied ointment to the last welt. “Right before he bit me, my Sire told me that the world would be better off with ‘one less tweedy sad bastard´ in it.”
“Spike?” Xander guessed. “Spike was your Sire?”
“That´s right.”Chip looked closely at a gash on Xander´s forehead, just at the hairline, and applied some of the medicine to it as well. “I met him in my favorite pub. I remember being surprised that someone that looked like him knew anything about Victorian poetry. We talked about it quite a while. At one point I told him that, in my opinion, the era produced quite a number of astoundingly bad poets. He later told me that´s when he decided to kill me––didn‘t say why, though.”
Chip almost smiled at Xander´s rare laugh. But he was worried. Roughly two meals every three days wasn´t enough for any human, let alone a teenager. The boy was growing thin, and, even with the vitamin pills that Chip had gotten from the all–night pharmacy, he was obviously becoming run down. Xander had learned to painstakingly work a little water under and around the gag to stave off absolute dehydration, but he was continually thirsty.
Angelus´ ongoing psychological and physical abuses were taking their toll as well, and Chip noticed that the boy was taking longer and longer to heal. He was about to again bring up the subject of getting Xander out of the house when the boy spoke again.
“Are you sorry? That you got turned, I mean.”
“That´s hard to say. I feel like that was a whole different person. I can´t imagine being him any more.”Chip began clearing away the remains of Xander´s meal. “The only thing I regret is…well, I remember all the schooling I had. My Ph.D. was from Harvard.”
“Wow.” Xander was suitably impressed.
“So,” Chip continued, “I used to be pretty smart. Now I can barely read. Like you said, I´m smarter than most minions, but that´s not saying much. I´m kind of sorry about not being smart any more.” He gave Xander that rare, small smile. “If I was still that smart, I´d be a master vampire myself.”The smile disappeared from the plain, honest face. “I´d treat my pets a lot better, if I was.”It was a mark of the trust growing between the two of them that loyal, discreet Chip would say something like that to Xander.
“Master.”He looked Xander in the eye. “It´s growing too dangerous for you to stay here. Please consider my offer. I´ve been thinking about it, and I know I can get you safely out.”
Xander shrugged. “I´d be going back to a situation almost as bad as this one.”In the weeks he´d spent in the mansion, Xander had finally admitted to himself just how miserable his young life had been. “Chip, the only real happiness I´ve had in my life was right here, before the damn brandy came along. I´m just not ready to give up on it yet.”
“Master, are you sure?”Worry showed plainly in the vampire´s pale eyes.
Xander nodded. “I´m sure. And you don´t have to call me master.”
The vampire made a courtly bow. “I´m honored to do so.”Xander had a momentary vision of the tall, dignified scholar that this being once must have been.
With a sigh, the boy picked up the hated gag, then hesitated. “What was your name?”
Chip frowned, his brow wrinkling, as if he had to think hard to recall. “Thomas.” he supplied finally. “Dr. Thomas Aurelius Fleming.”
“Well, Dr. Thomas Aurelius Fleming, you´re a good friend, and a good man. And I´ll always be grateful to you. Now, back to the salt mines, I guess.”With one last smile, he locked the gag into place.
Xander woke late the next day as Angelus stumbled out of bed. He sat up and warily watched the vampire clumsily open the wardrobe to retrieve a new bottle of brandy. Locking the wardrobe afterward, he turned as he struggled to open the bottle with shaking hands. Once he had accomplished this, he started to raise the bottle to his lips, then paused, squinting as if the low light of the lamp was hard on his eyes.
“Xander?”He peered blearily at the boy. “You look terrible.”He seemed confused, as if he couldn´t imagine how Xander got that way.
Xander didn´t doubt that he did look terrible. Angelus had stumbled in last night after a long hunt, drunk as a lord and spattered head to foot with blood, and taken immediate offense to the odor of the ointment that Chip had put on his wounds.
Cursing like a demented sailor, the demon had dragged him down the corridor to the bathroom, giving Chip a couple of rough clouts as they passed. He´d washed Xander in the tub, scrubbing hard at the inflamed wounds and nearly drowning him in the process, then dragged him back to the bedroom, flung him down across the bed and whipped his abused ass with the belt until Xander began to think he´d faint from the pain.
He´d finally flung the belt aside and jerked Xander to his feet with his head down on the mattress and shoved in, raining the now familiar verbal abuse down––slut, dirty whore, pussy boy––as he fucked him brutally.
When the vampire had come inside his slave, he´d been affronted by Xander´s failure to get hard for his master, and resumed the beating, stopping at last to sink hungry fangs into his slut´s inner thigh, drinking until Xander was light–headed. Finally then, Angelus had passed out, leaving the boy to sink into an uneasy, exhausted sleep beside him.
Now, Xander watched Angelus warily as the vampire lifted the bottle to his lips and drank deep. Wiping his mouth, the vampire frowned at Xander, then walked over an sat down beside his boy. “You really do look like shit.”Angelus lightly stroked the boy´s hair back from his face. “You better take it easy for a day or two.” He drank deep again, then produced the key, looking at it like he‘d never seen it before, then unlocked the gag with fumbling, clumsy hands.
“Okay” Xander whispered, feeling momentarily hopeful. Then, his heart breaking, he watched as the brandy took hold and the tentative spark of sanity died out of Angelus´ eyes.
“´Course, being a little pussy bottom boy, you always take it easy, don´t you? It´s the top that does all the work.”He stood up and yanked on Xander´s arm, pulling him over to the writing table. “´Cept when you´re sucking cock, and that´s too much trouble, since I have to gag your loud mouth.”He bent Xander over the table, giving him a few hard slaps on his bruised ass. He bent close to Xander´s ear and hissed, “Reach back and spread that juicy whore´s pussy wide open for me, then beg Master to fuck you.”His hand clapped hard against Xander´s sore buttocks, squeezing them viciously. “Beg for it, if you don´t want another whipping.”
Xander drew a shuddering sigh, fighting tears. Crying was really, really bad; it stuffed up his nose, and he was used to not being able to breathe through his mouth anymore because of the gag.
Reaching behind him, he spread his cheeks open. Angelus watched him avidly. “Yeah, that´s it. Spread it further. Show me that dirty little cunt of yours.”Spreading his ass as wide as he could, Xander whispered. “Please f–fuck me, Master. Fuck my ass.”
“Come on,” hissed the vampire. “You can do better than that.”Xander bit back a sob. “I want it, Master. Want it bad. Fuck me hard. Shove your big cock up my ass. Make me scream.”
“Now, then, that´s much better.”Xander bit his lip, trying not to yell when Angelus rammed into him, calling him the usual names, biting his shoulder deeply when he came.
Xander was still lying across the table, trying to recover, when Angelus dropped a dollar bill by his head then yanked him to his feet, fastening the leash to his collar. “Come on, slut. Time to go downstairs.”He caught up the gag, then strode out, pulling Xander along behind him.
Once downstairs, Xander subsided onto the floor at his master´s feet, his weight resting gingerly onto one hip. Angelus´ contempt for him had finally communicated itself to the minions, and they looked at him with open lust.
Xander huddled close to Angelus, trying to make himself small as he could. The vampire was drinking deeply tonight, a bad sign for Xander. When he eventually, inevitably pulled Xander between his thighs to begin his nightly performance, he was in the midst of praising a minion who had accomplished something desirable, and Angelus, magnanimous, offered the vampire a feel of the tempting ass pointing in his direction.
Xander, mindful of the hard hand pressing on his head, kept sucking obediently as a cold, clumsy hand fumbled between his legs, awkwardly feeling his cock and balls, thumb nudging briefly into his come–soaked anus.
“That´s enough, then,” stated the vampire goodnaturedly, and the minion stepped back quickly, surreptitiously tasting the master´s come that he had retrieved from the slave´s back passage.
After Angelus had finally come with a roar, ostentatiously calling attention to the slave between his thighs, swallowing his seed, Xander slumped back against the sofa and glanced around the room, seeing the minions no longer shy about staring at his naked body. Across the room, Spike assessed him keenly as Angelus reapplied the gag, buckling it with a flourish around Xander‘s head.
When the audiences were done, and the minions had melted away into the night, Xander waited tiredly for his master to lead him upstairs to God knew what torment.
He looked up sluggishly as he heard Spike´s voice. “Gotta tell ya, Peaches, yer boy there is lookin´ a bit peaked.”
Angelus was silent as he took a few deep swallows of brandy. Finally, a devilish grin spread across his face. “Not to worry, childe. He´s just pining.”
“Yeah?”The younger vampire raised an eyebrow. “What for, then?”
Angelus swallowed more brandy. “For you, of course. He thinks you´re hot.”The vampire sneered at his childe, showing a lot of teeth and ignoring Xander´s pleading stare.
“So, Spike. Got a dollar on you?´
Curious, Spike wriggled two finger into tight jeans, withdrawing a small roll of bills. “Yeah, believe so. Why d´you ask, Peaches?”
Angelus pulled on the leash, drawing Xander up tight against his spread legs. “Because I think that, for a dollar, my little Xander here would just LOVE to sit on your cock.”
“Oh, yeah?”Spike looked at the tasty little human. Instincts told him that this was a really bad idea, but he ignored them. It had been a long time since he´d sunk himself into warm, human flesh, and besides, a gift of this sort from his sire was an honor. “Well, send ‘im on over, then.”
Xander´s dark eyes were eloquent and pleading above the gag. Yanking him close, Angelus hissed into his ear. “If you want to live through this night, whore, do as you´re told.”
Xander wasn´t sure he did want to live through the night, but he wasn´t entirely sure that he didn´t, either. He rose on shaky legs and made his way over to the younger vampire.
Spike had taken out his cock and was stroking it, smirking at the boy. Already fully erect, it was uncircumcised, like Angelus´, and just as long, although not quite as thick.
Xander crossed to it like a sleepwalker, then stood in front of the younger vampire, waiting for instructions. “Just turn around, pet. Yeah, that´s it. Back right up, yeah, right up against the wheelchair. Now lower yourself down, that´s good, pet.
Awkwardly, Xander backed himself into the wheelchair, and, guided by Spike´s strong hands, straddled the vampire´s lap and lowered himself onto the erect cock. Once seated on Spike´s erection, Xander sat dazed, staring across the room into Angelus´ blank eyes.
“C´mon, then pet. Move around a bit, yeah? No one likes a dead fuck.”Spike laughed softly. “Well I guess you do, don´t you, little boy? Still,”he urged Xander with firm hands on the boy´s hips “let´s have a little action, luv.”Mindlessly obedient, Xander braced his hands on the arms of the wheelchair and began to lift himself mechanically up and down, riding the hard cock inside him, his eyes fixed on the dark face across the room.
“Oh, yeah. Soddin´ hell, that´s good.”A slender white hand groped around Xander´s body, finding his cock and stroking it skillfully into erection. “You´re hot, brat, hot and bloody tight, considerin´ what´s been up your arse.”The hard hand stroked him persistently, making Xander hard. “Yeah, that´s it. Ride me fast.”With a snarl, the vampire bucked up into him, holding him still as he shot his load into Xander´s ass.
Angelus had begun to growl, and now he shot up out of his seat and caught the end of the leash, yanking Xander off Spike´s cock and onto his feet. “That´s enough of that, then. Hope you enjoyed it Spike, but right now it´s my turn.”Without another word, he turned, left the room and mounted the stairs, dragging Xander behind him.
Once in their room, Angelus turned on Xander, his eyes locked on Xander´s erection. “So you liked that, did you, slut? Liked Spike fucking you? I guess you did, since it made you hard.”Moving fast, he caught Xander´s collar in his fingers. “Well, I´ll make you forget about Spike. I´m gonna fuck you until you forget your name.”
Xander stood frozen for a minute, then, with a quick, twisting movement, he jerked away from the vampire. Looking steadily into Angelus´ eyes, he shook his head emphatically.
