Here's part 74. A warning is needed for this piece, because I think it's quite disturbing overall. It was very difficult to write and read for me, so it's taken a while just to be a bit objective about it. In the end I still don't think I am but I finally just let it go so I could move beyond it to the next piece, which will be considerably more fun to do, and I think, to read. Anyway, again, disturbing stuff ahead.

Author: Mithril

E-mail: taptap2@gmail.com

Title: Most Favored

Pairing: Angel/Spike

Rating: Adult, Slash & Het

Summary: The Aurelius Clan chooses a new Master

Distribution: Various S/A friendly lists.

Spoilers: Post NFA.  Angel slays the dragon, and the battle is won with Illyria's manipulation of time, which also results in Wesley's return.  Angel, Spike, Wesley, Gunn, and Fred/Illyria are now back in the 'Angel Investigation' business.  All live in the Hyperion.

Disclaimer: I don't own Angel or Spike or anything else from ME.

Feedback: Always welcome.

Part 74:

"Spike, prepare the restraints.  We'll do it now."

It took half an hour before they were ready to secure the witnesses, as Spike had to drill recessed holes in the floor outside the pentacle and attach D-rings for the restraints.  Though he only needed two for the ritual, he took a little extra time and did five so that they would be ready for any future needs.  Each one was positioned between two star points, and set about five feet back from the tip of each so that anyone restrained there could not reach forward to break the perimeter of the star.  By the time he was through, it was almost midnight; the perfect time to begin a deep magik ritual.  Finally Spike went to the chest and removed manacles and chains, then motioned for Wesley and Gunn to join him at the pentacle.

"Kneel at ease" he commanded, pointing to spots just in front of the two D-rings that stood between the star and the stage.  Both dropped into position immediately.  Angel stood by and watched, arms crossed over his chest, as Spike repositioned Wesley's arms so that they hung low behind his back, wrists crossed.  He placed manacles on both ankles and wrists then threaded a chain through the D-rings on each, tightening the whole configuration.  Finally the end of the chain was secured to the D-ring on the floor behind him.  Wesley's naked torso was now completely open and vulnerably displayed, his cock still erect from the cockring he wore during training.  Although he could wriggle a bit, there was insufficient slack on the chains for anything else.  When he was through, Spike repeated the same operation on Gunn.

While he was doing that, Angel rummaged through the trunk and finally pulled out a large hourglass, filled with sand.  He set it on the stage, positioned directly in front of the tip of the central arm of the pentacle so that he and Spike could see it clearly.

Spike finished with Gunn, then finally nodded to Illyria, waving for her to join him at the center of the pentacle.  "Hold out your hands, Blue," he commanded.  When she did he secured manacles about them and threaded a separate short chain through each.  The chains hung from the ceiling ended in closed hooks, and though the hooks was suspended several feet above his head it was a simple matter for him to jump up and hold himself to one while drawing up a chain attached to one of Illyria's wrists.  Within seconds the two were connected.  He dropped down to the floor again and repeated the same action with the other chain and the other wrist, then dropped to the floor again.

Next he attached manacles to her ankles, then attached chains to them via the D-ring on each outer edge, pulling the chains to the recessed D-rings on the floor within the pentacle and attaching the other ends there.  He left a little slack in these chains.  When he was through Illyria's arms were stretched and separated high overhead and her feet were spread wide apart.  She stood facing Wesley and Gunn directly, so that they could bear witness to everything that occurred.  Spike moved around her, inspecting the configuration and strength of each set of manacles and chains, then finally nodded in satisfaction and joined his sire outside the star.

"Everything's ready."

Angel nodded and began to strip off his clothes, and Spike followed suit.  In seconds they were both naked.  Wesley and Gunn watched with trepidation, and both blanched to discover that apparently neither vampire needed the help of a cockring to display their truly impressive erections.  Angel stepped up on the stage, flipped the hourglass over so that sand began to trickle down, then moved quickly back and into the pentacle, joining Illyria and his childe there.

"Patesco Aurelius," Angel called, and five flames sprang into life.  Then he held up his hands and recited the Succubus spell in its original Latin.  At the end of the recitation, the five flames flared up briefly, then simmered down again to their normal foot-high position at the apex of each arm.  The first part of the spell had been engaged, and now only the second half was needed to activate it in its entirety.  They had one hour.

Angel stepped forward to cup a hand upon Illyria's cheek.  She tilted her head in the direction of his hand, pressing her cheek more firmly to his palm, though no one watching was sure if that had been an intentional outcome of her habitual gesture or not.  Angel stared into her eyes, then murmured something too low and soft for either Wesley or Gunn to hear.  Illyria's eyelids fluttered, and though her eyes remained open, they now appeared hazy and somewhat unfocused.  Angel leaned forward and pressed a kiss upon her brow, then moved behind her.  He slid his hands around her waist and began to caress her torso, while nuzzling the pulse point at her neck.

While he was occupied behind her, Spike stepped forward and repeated his sire's actions, murmuring softly to her before kissing her forehead.  Then he dropped slowly to his knees, kissing lightly along her torso as he went until he began to lick and nibble at the succulent flesh between her thighs.  She jerked at the sensation and hissed, but Spike wrapped his arms about her hips and held tighter, not allowing her to escape from his touch.  Angel's hands rose to cup her small, pert breasts, and his fingers began to tug and roll the pink nipples at the center of both.  Suddenly she drew in a deep breath, and a low moan escaped.  "Please..." she whispered, eyes heavy lidded with desire.

Angel's fingers tightened upon her, twisting hard, just as Spike brought one hand around and thrust two fingers deep inside her dripping channel, hooking them to press hard on her G-spot.  She shuddered and cried out, and at that very moment the flickering fires flared up at each point, then slowly eased back down.

Spike stood and moved to one side, and Angel moved to the other, so that they both straddled a leg.  They nuzzled at the curve of her neck while each stroked and fondled flesh in front with one hand, and behind with the other.  Spike took his turn at her breasts now, while Angel dipped between her thighs, stroking deep inside, then slipping out to grip and roll the small hidden pearl at the apex of her sex.  Illyria's head rolled back and her mouth dropped open in pleasure as the stimulation continued.  She writhed between them, and within minutes had convulsed again with a wailing cry.  The flaring fire marked her response as legitimate, and both Wesley and Gunn, who watched with avid eyes, their cocks hard as iron, counted out 'two' silently.

Illyria was still shuddering when Angel slid to his knees between her legs and ran his palms up the tender flesh of her inner thighs.  Though the spread position of her legs left her open and vulnerable, the fingers of one hand spread her lips wider, exposing the tiny bud, while the other disappeared behind her to hold her still.  Angel leaned forward and suckled hard on the bundle of nerves.  Illyria's thighs trembled and with a stuttering cry she came a third time, her climax hard on the heels of the last one.  The sacred star must have recognized it as its own event, though, and not a continuation of the one that came before, because the flames leapt up once more before settling back to the floor.

"Oh, God," Illyria whispered, in a high, thin voice that sounded very unlike her own but very much like Fred's.  She arched her back and stretched as best she could, her eyes closed in bliss.

Angel reached out from his position still on his knees and pressed a palm flat to Spike's hipbone, pushing him back.  Spike obligingly moved to stand behind Illyria and Angel reached between her legs again, this time to wrap a hand around his childe's cock and draw it forward to position it at her core.  Spike slid his hands around her torso to cup her breasts once more then dipped down and flexed his hips up, letting his sire guide his erection deep within her to the accompaniment of Illyria's hoarse groan.  Once he was firmly seated he began a short, hard stroking motion.  Angel returned to work the fleshy tissue in front, tasting the combined juices from her cunt and his childe's dripping cock.  He cupped Spike's balls and rolled them in his hand, then bit lightly at her clit and she exploded once again.

The force of her convulsions was strong apparently, because Spike cried out with her, his teeth clenched as he frantically tried to stem his own release.  Angel released his balls and slid his hand up to circled the base of his throbbing cock, which was still buried in her.  He held it tight to help him hold off his climax and finally Spike shuddered and nodded his thanks.  Angel nodded, released him and stood, moving to his childe's side to press a kiss to his temple.

"Good boy," he murmured, and this time both Wesley and Gunn heard him.

Barely fifteen minutes had passed, but four of the ten were now behind them.  That meant there were still six to go, though, and neither Angel nor Spike wasted any time.  Everyone knew that it would only get more difficult from here on out.  And sure enough, when they positioned themselves for the next round, again at either side of her, straddling her legs with their own, the first touch of their hands upon the sensitive flesh of her breasts and between her legs drew a hoarse cry of protest.

"Not yet.  Wait..." she murmured, an edge to her voice.

Angel whispered in one ear, and Spike in the other, and now both Wesley and Gunn realized that they were using a light thrall upon her.  As they murmured lowly to her, their hands barely grazed along the inside of her arms and thighs, over her belly and along the back of her knees, stroking other, less stimulated erogenous zones.  She sighed, her eyelids fluttering, and the whimpering protest trailed off.  But when Spike fingers shifted from her inner thigh to a few inches higher, she wriggled and grimaced, as though trying to escape his fingers.  Angel and Spike exchanged a knowing, somber glance, then Angel trailed the fingers of one hand down her spine.  Wesley and Gunn were restrained in front of her, so they couldn't see that hand, but when Illyria arched her hips forward and cried out, as though to escape probing fingers, they knew what was happening.

"Shhh, lass, tis all right, you'll see," Angel murmured softly, as though he were gentling a mare that had yet to be broken to bridle.  He cupped her jaw and turned her to face him, then kissed her deeply.  She struggled, whimpering into his mouth as Spike continued to fondle her delicate flesh from the front while Angel worked her from behind, but the kiss soon had her as limp in his arms as the chains would allow.

On the floor outside the star, Wesley and Gunn were panting harshly, their cocks straining painfully full, even more restrained than their ankles and wrists.  The images before them were surreal, two creatures, ancient and terrible and almost too beautiful for words, working their will upon the third one as restrained as they themselves were, but caught in the vampires' snare.

Spike continued his assault, fingers thrusting, stroking, pinching and rolling, but shifted from the side to the front to bring his other hand into play.  He cupped one breast underneath and squeezed until the soft flesh and turgid nipple swelled like ripe fruit.  He glanced over to his sire, who nodded, and then he let his fangs drop.  He struck fast, teeth sinking in cleanly about the areola.  Illyria screamed and arched away, only to be met by Angel's fingers.  Spike suckled hard, pulling blood through the sensitive tip and that bit of additional sensation pushed her over the edge.  Illyria's scream of shock never really ended.  It simply increased in volume and changed in tone as her climax swept through her, her body trapped front and back on busy fingers and fangs.  She undulated between them for a long moment then collapsed in silence as the five flames flared to life around her.

"Five," Gunn whispered in awe.

Wesley heard and nodded, but neither took their eyes from the tableau at the center of the star.

Spike moved to her side once more and nuzzled against her temple, licking salty tears as they tracked down her face and stroked the flat of his palm along the center of her torso.

 "Tired," she murmured.  "Just need... to rest..."

"No time to sleep, kitten.  We're halfway there."

"Halfway?  No, can't be only halfway..."

"Halfway, lass," Angel murmured, nuzzling the silky sweat under her arm.

"I don't think..."

"Shhh, don't think, kitten.  Just be with us.  Let us take care of you.  Hold on, now, luv."

Spike nodded at Angel who slipped behind her.  His hands appeared around her waist, then slid down, following the crease between hip and thigh until his palms cupped her inner thighs.  He lifted her up and spread her open as much as the chains would allow, then slowly began to enter her from behind.

"No, too much, stop, wait," she cried out, her body stimulated in a spot before this day untouched.

"No time for waitin' lass.  Just let go."

Then Angel moved to nuzzle her ear, murmuring softly in words unheard by the humans.  Whatever he said had an effect, and her head fell back against his shoulder, her mouth falling open with a groaning sigh.  They were still together for a minute, then Angel pulled back and thrust forward smoothly, jolting her slender body.

Spike slipped two fingers into her dripping channel and hooked them, rubbing firmly just behind the pubic bone.  She writhed between them, jolted over and over again, each thrust from Angel driving her flesh hard against Spike's fingers.  She cried out, and in a few minutes she was jerking back to meet Angel's thrusts, seeking out that deep and hard penetration.  Spike reached up with his free hand and caught the lobe of her ear between his fingers.  He pinched it hard just as Angel thrust in, and that final bit of stimulation pushed her over the edge.  She let out a keening wail and the fires flared, dying down even as her cry turned to a moaning whimper.

"Six," Wesley counted this time.

Angel and Spike pulled away at the same time and Illyria collapsed, only the chains now holding her up.  Both vampires dropped to the ground, Angel on his knees to apparently lip and nip at the flesh behind her knees and thighs and Spike almost flat on his belly to suckle the toes of one foot before shifting and doing the same to the other.

"Wake up, pet," Spike murmured from his place on the floor.  "We're getting close."

"No, no.  No more.  Enough."

"Not enough, lass, and well you know it," Angel corrected her.  "Ten is what you bargained for and ten is what you'll get.  Come now, girl, you know you can't resist the likes of us."

Angel's voice was both seductive and demanding and she shuddered in response.

"Don't think I can..."

"You will," he said, a hard-edged timbre in his words that brooked no dissent.

"Angel," Wesley whispered from his place outside the star.

Angel turned his head to stare at the chained pet.  His face shifted and he snarled, reminding both humans instantly of their place in the ritual.  When Wesley made no move to speak again, Angel returned to his task, his demon still at the fore.  He worked his way up until he reached the bundle of nerves at the base of her spine and stayed there until she writhed against him, chains jangling in response to her jerky movements.  Then he followed the path up her spine to worry the back of her neck.

Illyria shuddered and moaned almost non-stop now, her body twitching as it was stimulated past bearing.

"Up here, boy," Angel commanded roughly.

Spike immediately got to his feet and moved in between the spread legs.  He reached behind her thighs and pulled them up and open as much as the slack in the chains would allow, then without further pause thrust into her hard and deep.  At that exact same moment Angel struck, sinking his fangs deep into her neck to either side of the spine.  Sparks of light exploded behind her eyes and Illyria screamed, convulsing as though an electric shock pulsed through her body.  The flames shot up and after a few aftershocks, her body fell back, and with it the flames collapsed for the seventh time.

Forty minutes had passed and seven of the ten were behind them.  Three left to go, but only twenty minutes remaining.  In the next instant Wesley and Gunn held their breath, as Illyria began to plead non-stop in a tone they'd never heard from her before.  It was neither her own voice, nor Fred's, but some eerie combination of the two.

"No!!!!" she begged.  "No more, please.  I can't!" she insisted, shaking her head while tears streamed down her cheeks.  This shell can't do it.  It's beyond it.  Not my fault, not my fault.  Stop, please stop."

She babbled on and on, repeating the same words over and over again, and both Wesley and Gunn were sure that she'd reached the limit Angel had spoken of; that it was all over.  They were relieved that it was done.

Only it wasn't.

Angel nodded to Spike whose hands tightened on the back of Illyria's thighs, drawing them forward as much as the chains would allow.  Angel positioned himself behind her then thrust in hard, feeling his childe's cock between the thin membrane of her body.

"Nooooooo!!!!"

They immediately set up a pattern of thrust and counterthrust, one cock filling her while the other left, jolting her body over and over again.  No pretense was made at subtlety now.  The vampires were an overwhelming force breaking against her like waves on the beach, implacable and unrelenting, surging and receding, but never stopping, battering her shore to chip it away and break it down until there was nothing left.

Illyria screamed and thrashed between them, reaching up to grasp a length of chain in each hand, as though she could pull herself up and away from the two bodies that surrounded her, but no escape was possible.  Her scream rose to an unearthly wail and suddenly her features began to flicker back and forth between blue eyes and brown, blue flesh and pale ivory.

"Fred," Wesley whispered.  "Oh, God."

"Angel, it's Fred," Gunn cried out, straining at his chains.

"Don't stop, boy," Angel commanded, his voice roughly guttural in his demon state.

Spike howled, shifting into gameface, but he didn't stop.

Neither stopped.  They pistoned in and out in perfect rhythm with each other.  Wesley and Gunn, watching in shocked fascination and horror, realized that the vampires had done this together many times before, though never before with such an intent.  More than any other glimpse they'd ever had into either's past, this moment, while they held their prey captive between them, demon faces to the fore, brought home the alien nature of the creatures with whom they lived side by side.  Their bodies were unearthly in their beauty, unbreakable in their strength.  Even their demon features had an other-worldly aspect like that of a fallen angel.  They were the very image of your worst, terrifying nightmares, and your most secret, erotic dreams.

And between them hung a creature as exotic as they; once known and beloved, a small, slight figure with a gentle aspect, now foreign, alien, strong and unbreakable.  Only it wasn't just Illyria here now.  To Wesley and Gunn, two men who had both loved her, the gentle Fred was being tortured before their eyes.  It didn't help that they had experienced her death – in Wesley's case first-hand – and were convinced that she was gone.  It didn't help that a part of them was sure that her flickering image was nothing more than the clever manipulation of the alien God to get what she desired, an end to her pain.  It didn't help that not so very long ago they might very well have enjoyed this particular God's pain, at least a little.

None of that mattered anymore.  Now Illyria was no longer so foreign or alien, now she had become their friend, and they didn't want her in pain.  Now they weren't even so sure about those things they were so sure of before.  Was Fred still there, inside that shell?  Her flickering image, her voice and her words all brought the previous certainty that she was not into doubt.  But still it went on, relentless and seemingly endless.

When her eighth climax struck it was despite her frantic resistance.  She tried to escape them and the pain it brought, but they wouldn't allow it.  What had been blissful release was now agony burning through her body, and worse yet it wouldn't end.  Angel and Spike didn't stop when she wailed and the flames flared for the eighth time, though Spike did pull away for a short while, dropping to his knees between her spread legs to suckle hard on her abused clit.  Angel never stopped his pounding rhythm behind her, his hands gripping her thighs from the front to hold her tight for his own invasion, and open for his childe's.

By this time Gunn was hoarse from shouting, begging them to stop.  Wesley wasn't even trying anymore, but hung limply in his chains weeping.

When the flames receded, Illyria did as well, abandoning the shell that was capable of such excruciating pain, leaving the frail all-too-human body and pail, contorted features of Fred alone.

At the sight of her, seemingly crucified between the two vampire tormenters, Wesley found his voice again, pleading through his tears.  Gunn sobbed and shouted alongside him, but to no avail.  Angel and Spike didn't stop.  Spike regained his feet, switched with Angel, and they began again, jolting the slim body between them like a rag-doll as she screamed for them to stop.  They didn't.  Their hands were everywhere, not in gentle caresses, but in hard, sharp tugs and squeezes and pinches, forcing stimulation upon a body that had already had far too much.

When the flames shot up for the ninth time, both humans were caught off-guard.  The wails and screeching howls hadn't change a bit, but apparently the frail body had been forced to respond nonetheless.

Angel and Spike were beyond words now, deep in their demons.  They howled and growled and roared, riding their conquest between them.  A quick circling shift and they were at it again, only this time their alternating, pistoning rhythm was replaced by a harsher simultaneous one, both pulling out at once, and then thrusting in together, deep and hard.  The body between them tore and bled, and the demons howled louder yet while the humans wailed their fear and grief.  Fred's screams were almost silent now, and all the more eerie and distressing for that.  Wesley tore his gaze away to look at the hourglass behind him; the sands were almost out and there couldn't be more than a few seconds left.  It had all been for nothing...

Suddenly a scream like they'd never heard before broke through her silence.  It rose in a crescendo of pain and then it abruptly stopped as she collapsed between them.  All sound and motion in the room stopped in response.  No sooner had that happened than the golden streams of fire flew up again, only this time they exploded into a white wall of flame that covered every line of the perimeter of the star.  So far as Wesley and Gunn knew, it filled its interior as well, consuming the three within it.  They couldn't see through it, and they couldn't hear anything over the roar of the inferno.

It went on and on, like a cyclone of heat and light.  Wesley and Gunn watched in horror, unable to look away at the devastation taking place right before their eyes.  And suddenly it all just stopped.  The sheet of white disappeared, leaving five simple foot-high flames at each star point.  At the center of the star on the floor knelt Angel and Spike with Fred lying motionless across their laps.

"Arceo Aurelius," Angel shouted hoarsely, and the flames disappeared altogether.  "Let them loose," Angel said, nodding to the two restrained humans.

Spike jumped up and hurried to unshackle them, and the three rushed to kneel about their friend.

"Her hair," Wesley said with wonder, through the sobs that wouldn't stop.

Gunn nodded, tears still streaming down his face, and reached a tentative hand to stroke across her smooth head.  With the exception of eyebrows and eyelashes, there didn't appear to be a hair remaining anywhere on her body.  A few other changes were immediately visible; her previously small, pale pink nipples were now a dusky peach, more than half an inch long and almost as thick, and peeking out from beneath the hooded flesh at the apex of her thighs, the button of her clit was now three times the size it had been, like a small, plump grape.  Blood and cum dripped down her thighs in long tracks like the tears on their faces.  They wept again to see it, but now there was relief in the sound.  Whatever came now, at least it was over.  As they stared at her in shock, suddenly she groaned, and in the instant following that sound traces of indigo began to spread across her body like spider veins, until her delicate features and flesh were once again tinged with blue.

Illyria was back.