The Crypt: A Different Path by Salustra and Cathelin

A Different Path 2/?

"O father, what a hell of witchcraft lies
In the small orb of one particular tear."
William Shakespeare, A Lover's Complaint.

Cecily storms back to her house. She stalks into her room, her face a mask of fury and pain. She grabs a necklace out from under her dress and holds it, screaming, "Anyanka!"

A blonde-haired woman appears and sighs. "Vacation over yet, Halfrek? It's been very lonely without you. Work just isn't the same."

"No! But I need you in a professional capacity. Some little *nothing* who turned into this terribly sexy vampire courted, slept with, and *dumped* me. ME! I wish...I wish....oh, let's see here. He has been a vampire for oh, say a few months. He has to have done plenty of terrible things. Hmmmm. I wish he had his soul restored! There! That'll take care of him. His Sire will desert him and he'll be tormented and he'll have to drink rats in alleyways to survive! Most of all, he'll go back to being a pathetic little nothing! Hah!"

Anyanka says, "Done!"

Across town, William falls to his knees and his eyes glow golden for a moment. Penn sees this and picks him up. "What happened?"

William shakes his head. "I...I don't know. But I feel weak suddenly. I need to lie down."

Penn helps him to the bed. Then he smells it. The aroma, unmistakable. He collapses onto the floor. "Y-y-y-your soul. You've been given your soul back."

William sits for a moment, considering. "I...do...feel a little different. What should it feel like?"

"Well...I don't know. I would imagine you'd be tormented by the terrible things you'd done as a vampire. But then, I suppose, you haven't really done all that many terrible things, now, have you?"

Then as Penn speaks, a wave of remorse hits William. Not unbearable, but profound, and he cries out. Penn looks at William, trying to decide what to do. Part of his vampiric instinct tells him to run, or to throw the boy out, that no good can come from having a soul. But the rest of him knows that this is his boy, and since Angelus he has never wanted another like he wants William. So he climbs onto the bed and holds William to him and lets him scream and cry.

William doesn't go hunting that night. He spends the day shivering in bed, wakeful, talking to himself. He doesn't go hunting the next night, either. Penn brings a woman back to the room and William has come back to himself enough to seduce her. He drinks as much as he dares and then Penn sends her away, alive, not wanting to stop William's recovery.

By the next night he has risen from the bed. When Penn wakes he finds William bathing. "Better?" Penn asks.

"Better," William responds. "But, Penn...I don't know if we can hunt together anymore. I don't think...I can watch you kill innocents anymore."

Penn sighs. "I've been thinking. For the time being...." He grits his teeth. "For the time being I will eat criminals like you do."

William looks over at Penn and smiles. "You really care about me, don't you?"

Penn sighs. "Angelus told me never to use insipid words like the one I am about to use...but honestly, William, I do believe I love you."

William nods and blushes. "I love you too, Penn. I think I have for a long time."

~~ TWENTY YEARS LATER (1900) ~~

"Hands off him, little girl!" William screams.

The Chinese girl has Penn backed up against a wall in the temple, bleeding from several sword wounds. She whirls around and William catches her eyes, projecting his aura. He has had twenty years to perfect it and most nights he manages to seduce several victims, males and female, and kills none of them. He still hunts criminals to keep himself in fighting trim, and Penn hunts some nights without him. He tries hard not to think about those nights. The girl freezes at his gaze, and he moves towards her, knocking the sword out of her hand. This breaks the line of his gaze just enough that she moves again, pulling a stake from her belt and whirling to stake Penn. He has no time...William grabs and snaps her neck. She falls to the floor, dead.

"That...that was a Slayer, William. You've killed a *Slayer*."

"I had to. She was going to kill you."

"She's a Slayer. She would have killed you too. Drink her. Her blood will increase your power tremendously. She's dead already. Don't scruple at drinking the blood."

William nods. "Very well." He bends down and drinks her blood, drinking her dry. He feels the power rush through his veins and his body. It is like smoking opium, only multiplied a thousandfold. He is God, and all the world bows before him.

Then he feels his lust rise in him, more powerfully than it ever has. He looks at Penn. Penn has crept over and licks blood off her wounds and takes what little is left in her body to heal his own wounds. He looks up. "Did you know that the blood of a Slayer is also a powerful aphrodisiac?"

William pulls Penn to him and they move away to the other side of the temple. They find an abandoned sleeping pallet and sink down onto it, pulling the clothes off each other. As the sounds of battle and screams of war rage outside, inside this little sanctum of a temple is an alabaster blue-eyed god and his faithful worshipper. Their limbs gleam golden-pale in the torchlight as they begin to explore each other. Their mouths and hands roam over each other, their bodies twining, in all the ways that two vampires who have had twenty years to work on an intricate ballet of touch can devise.

At last, William gets ready to lie down and Penn stops him. Instead Penn lies down, and spreads his legs. William's eyes open in question, and Penn nods. "William, my dear one, today you saved my life and killed a Slayer. You're my equal now, at the very least. I want you to. It's not like it's never been done before. I was Angelus' boy."

William nods, his eyes still wide, almost unable to believe the magnitude of what Penn is giving him today. He reaches into his pocket for the small jar of ointment he carries everywhere and spreads it on his fingers. He reaches for Penn and Penn shakes his head. "Just put it on your magnificent cock and take me. I don't need the gentle preparation. Do it just like I do you now."

William does as Penn says, and maneuvers between his thighs, pressing in hard against him. He has had sex with other men, human men, but never with a vampire. The cool silkiness encases him and he groans in pleasure and he pushes deep into Penn. Penn arches and cries out. He may be no virgin but he is still virgin-tight, as he was when Angelus made him. And, of course, William's proud member is large-not as large as Angelus', but close indeed. Penn has always harbored a secret desire to let William take him and he is delighted to finally have good enough reason to let him.

William is gripped with urgency as he hears voices and noises drawing nearer. There is no way he is going to stop, not now, so he pushes hard and deep and fast. Penn moans and keens as William hits the spot within him over and over and over. He too, can hear the voices and he wants to reach completion for both of them before anyone enters the temple. William reaches between them and starts stroking Penn, and they both begin to pant and shudder. Penn cums, suddenly, and his clenching and shaking pushes William over the edge and he cums too, the both of them screaming animal screams of delight that echo and reverberate off the walls of the temple.

They pull themselves together and hastily dress, leaving the temple. On their way through the town they see, walking through the streets, three familiar figures. Penn hastily pulls William into a building. They watch as the trio passes. William sees Angelus again, walking, his hair blowing in the wind, his coat wrapping around him. And again he feels a strange stirring of feelings he cannot explain. It is something beyond mere lust and for a second he almost wants to step out onto the street to meet him but he holds himself back.

"We need to leave," Penn said. "There are rich pickings here, but it is no good if *he* is here. In all this chaos, it would be too easy to miss him coming."

William nods. Together they walk through the rubble.

~~ 1977 ~~

Penn comes walking into the hotel room. He's wearing a leather coat he's never had before, and he glows like a beacon. He sits down on the couch next to William, pulling him close.

William can taste it, in his mouth, on his skin. He can smell it in the coat that Penn is wearing. "You killed her, didn't you? The Slayer. Even though she had a little boy. Who'll grow up now without his mother."

Penn shrugs. "*You* killed a Slayer. What's the difference?"

"I killed her to save you. I didn't go hunting for her."

Penn snorts. "Don't care. Besides, the boy won't grow up without a mother. Won't grow up at all." Penn grabs William again, kissing him fiercely.

William's eyes widen in horror, and he throws Penn back with all his might. He opens the closet and pulls out a suitcase. "That's *it*, Penn. Been ignoring things for a long while. But I can't do it anymore. Can't ignore the killing. I'm leaving, Penn."

Penn springs up from the floor, pressing William against a wall. "No you're not. You can't. I won't let you."

William throws him off. "I can and I will, Penn. Don't try to find me." He grabs the suitcase and slams the door behind him. He flies down the fire stairs, not waiting for the elevator, leaping down whole flights at a time, heedless of pain or injury. He can't stay with Penn. Can't. No matter how much he loves him.

He bursts onto the street, hailing a cab and climbing into it. "LaGuardia," he says. "And quickly please. There's an extra hundred in it for you if you get me there in 20 minutes."

The cabbie nods. "You got it, buddy. Hold on." The cab pulls away from the curb, and William sees Penn come pounding out the lobby door just as the cab rounds the corner and slides out of sight.

William lays his head back. This day has been a long time coming. Penn couldn't deny what he was forever. Not even for William. The killing had been getting worse. Penn had stopped trying to even hide it. William didn't want to leave. It tore him apart inside to do it, like ripping out a piece of him. He starts to shake, the enormity of what he is doing settling in. He's been with Penn so long now. Ninety-seven years.

He takes in a deep, unneeded breath, hugging himself protectively. He's alone in the world now. Truly alone. No one else he can count on. He slides his eyes closed.

The cab driver speaks up. "So, where you headed, buddy?"

"Anyplace, really," William says. "Anyplace that will have me."

~~ OCTOBER 2000~~

William is sitting in New Orleans, enjoying a glass of fine wine and a lovely meal at a sidewalk table of a restaurant in the French Quarter. A woman strolls up to him and it takes a second to realize who he is seeing. He refuses to run, though. He is 120 years old, 143 if you count his human years, and he has long been considered a Master. And according to Penn, Drusilla was only twenty years older. So he simply looks up and says, "Hello, Drusilla. Care to join me?"

"You've got the spark in you. Like Daddy does. Both of you, all sparkly and you burn my fingers." Drusilla stands, looking at him.

He sighs. He knows that her words probably mean something but he has no idea what. "That's nice, Drusilla. 120 years and this is what you want to tell me?"

Her face is pained. "My brother is dead, Willie my boy, and it's not nice to make fun."

"Your brother?" It takes a second, but then he shouts, "PENN?"

"Yes. Now be quiet, doggy, or no bone for you."

William forces himself to sit down and be quiet. Finally Drusilla says. "That's better. It happened in Daddy's city, the City of Angels. I don't know why, or how. And I can't go there. Daddy doesn't like me since he got the spark. But you have it too. He'll let you. Find out for me, Willie? Please?"

"The spark?" He thinks a while. "A *soul*? We've both got a soul? Angelus has a soul?"

"Yes. Angel now, not Angelus. Like his city."

William nods, unthinking. "I'll leave. I'll leave as soon as I can."

"Good boy. I knew it was good that I made you." Drusilla gets up and wanders away and disappears before William can ask how to find her. Oh, well, he supposes she will find him again, like she did this time. Through one of her visions, he imagines. He heads back to his hotel to pack and make arrangements. The next day before dawn he is in Los Angeles and safely ensconced in a hotel. Now, to find one vampire in a city of millions.

~~ A FEW DAYS LATER ~~

William comes walking into the address listed on the card. He had hired a private detective who had immediately suggested that for his "specialized" needs, this might be the place to go. And the name, Angel Investigations, seems promising. He sees an attractive brunette and walks over to her. He stands there, dressed in a midnight blue raw silk suit and black silk shirt and tilts his head as he addresses her. "Excuse me, is this Angel Investigations?"

The woman looks up at William, and her eyes immediately light up in appreciation of the beautiful stranger. "Yes it *is*. Hi, I'm Cordelia Chase, how may I help you?" She extends her hand. William takes it, and instead of shaking it, turns it and places a soft kiss on her knuckles. He's careful not to use his aura, though by now there is a certain effect on any mortals he touches or engages with even peripherally. Her eyes widen, she licks her lips, and her pulse thuds just a little harder.

"Cordelia. How charming. What a beautiful name for a beautiful woman." Cordelia almost preens at William's comments, and the soft well-timbred voice. William favors her with a brilliant smile. "My name is William Foster. This will sound perhaps a little insane, but is Angel Investigations actually...run by someone called Angel?"

Cordelia nods almost absently, still looking into those beautiful blue eyes. "Uhhh, yeah, Angel. Yes, there's an Angel in charge. Well, so he likes to think anyway, even though I really do most of the work around here."

William quirks his lips a little. "Yes, well, I'm actually looking to speak to the man himself if that can be arranged. You see, I think, in a manner of speaking, that we have...interests in common."

Angel picks up his towel, slinging it around his shoulders and heads up the stairs from the basement. His muscles are aching slightly from a good workout and he's looking forward to sneaking up behind Cordy and wrapping his slightly sweaty arms around her. He loves the way her nose scrunches up when she 'Ewwwws'.

Cordelia nods stupidly. "Ummm, yeah, ok. I...I'll just go get him then, shall I?" She stands up but can't seem to make herself step away. Her eyes are focused on the handsome sexy piece of man in front of her.

Sidling into the lobby Angel starts to look around to see where she is. He sees her across the room talking to a slight blond man, and apparently mesmerized. He frowns and walks towards them. "Hello? Can I help you?" He asks quietly as he comes up behind the man. He can feel something tingling along his nerves and frowns harder, as something hovers on the edge of his consciousness.

William whirls at the voice from behind, and his blue eyes all but slam into the man he's sure is Angel. The dark vampire he's skirted all these years. "Angel. You're Angel."

"Ye..." Angel trails off and his eyes widen as their gazes lock.

William looses a bit of control on his aura at the surprise, and the intensity of the gaze. The little tremor he's felt whenever he's seen him from afar before is an almost unbearable burn standing this close to him.

Taking a surprised step back at the wave of energy slamming into him, Angel takes a shocked gasp of breath as he realizes what it is. A split second later he freezes as his senses tell him that this man carries the scent of family. "What the hell?"

William swallows. "Ah. My manners, I'm so sorry." His voice is soft, cultured, upper-class English, and a silken caress all at once. "I'm William. Childe of Drusilla."

Angel's mouth drops open in a most undignified manner and he starts to splutter,

"Drusilla...what...*Drusilla*... when? I'll *kill* her..."

William has to smile a little at that. "She was rather certain that would be your response. Is there perhaps someplace private we can talk?"

His anger at his wayward daughter allowing him to shake off the effects of William's presence, Angel nods and gestures, "My office."

William follows him into his office, looking around, seeing the books. He runs his fingers across the spines of the old books. "Very nice."

"Hmm." Angel frowns as he watches him. "You're not a fledge." He says flatly after a moment's consideration.

"No. She made me in 1880. London."

Mouth dropping again, Angel just stares at him - shocked and angry. "What?"

"1880. London." William repeats. He prowls back and forth in the room, all feline grace, a caged panther. He's nervous, here with this much older vampire that Dru had warned him away from, that Penn had warned him away from.

"*Eighteen* eighty?" Angel growls, "Wait till I get my hands on the bloody wench!" Throwing himself into his desk chair he glares at the innocent pile of papers on his desk. "A childe! and not just any childe...eighteen eighty...I'll feckin' kill her." He snarls to himself.

"Is that what happened to Penn?"

"Huh?" Dragged out of his thoughts of punishment, he stares stupidly at the man across the room.

"Penn. Drusilla said Penn was dead. That he died here in this city."

"You know Penn?" Angel asks, trying to ignore the pang of pain and guilt at the mention of his eldest.

"He raised me." William's voice betrays his emotion.

"He WHAT?" Angel is reduced once more to staring with open mouthed shock.

William sighs. "Why don't you tell me how he died? So far, I've been answering all the questions." He's struggling to maintain his own composure.

Shaking himself, Angel unthinkingly answers, "He and Kate were fighting and I tried to stop them and then..." He trails off and shifts awkwardly in his seat.

"And then?" William is intent on Angel, watching his body language as much as listening to his words.

As he rubs his fingers to his mouth, Angel's mind goes back to that terrible moment - the feel of the wood being thrust through his stomach, followed after the merest moment by the burning pain inside him, the desperate desire to deny what that feeling meant.

"And then?" William asks again, his voice more urgent, almost demanding.

"He was behind me... and she picked up this plank of wood...I thought she was going for my heart but that she'd missed..."

William's fists ball and his eyes close, and he turns away so Angel can't see his eyes beginning to tear up.

Closing his eyes, Angel drops his head, his hand sliding up to cradle his forehead. "I didn't understand what had happened at first...didn't want to understand..." He continues to speak, almost unable to stop now he's actually talking about it for the first time, now that there's someone to listen who actually cares. "...I almost wished that she hadn't missed..."

William turns back at the obvious pain in his voice. "Did you take care of her? The one that killed our Gabriel?"

After a moment's hesitation, Angel shakes his head.

"She still lives?" There's clear disbelief in William's voice.

"Yes." Is the barely audible reply.

William collapses into a nearby chair. He draws in deep, shuddering breaths, trying to control himself. Penn is dead, his own Sire was *there* when he died, and the human that did it still lived.

Looking up at the sounds of shaky breathing Angel feels shame at the sight of this boy, his *grandchilde*, so affected by the news of Kate being alive when Penn isn't. He quickly looks away, then freezes as he finally notices Cordelia peeking around the door post, her hand covering her mouth.

"Why?" William asks at last. "Why does she live?"

Drawing himself up in his seat Angel turns back to him and takes a deep breath, bracing himself at the inevitable - and standard - response to what he's about to reveal. "Because I have a soul."

"Well so do *I*. But I still wouldn't have let some human walk away after killing him."

"You what?" The look of shock on Angel's face is comical and he stares disbelievingly at William.

William wrinkles his brow. "You didn't know? I knew you did because Drusilla told me. I just assumed..."

Angel blinks at him, otherwise utterly still.

"It happened a few months after I was made. I wouldn't have known what it was except Penn said he could smell it. I still don't know how it happened. But it's the reason we eventually parted."

The explanation seems to rouse Angel from his stupor and he stands up, coming around the desk to tower over the other man, breathing deeply through his mouth. "A soul. Of course." Why hadn't he sensed it before?

William looks up again with those blue eyes as Angel scents him. "Drusilla said you would kill her if she came. But not me, because of the soul. Would you really kill her?"

After a moment of feeling like he's sinking into blue eyes, Angel shakes himself and frowns. He glances at the doorway out of the corner of his eye. Realizing that Cordy is still just outside, he lowers his voice, "Probably not."

"So, where is she? This Kate?"

"I don't know exactly." Angel shrugs, avoiding his gaze. "I haven't seen her around for months."

"I'll need what information you can give me, then. I'll go hunt her."

'Shit' Angel thinks, ignoring his demon's ready acquiescence to William's words, along with its suggestion that he join the boy on the hunt. "But you have a soul."

"Yes. But if a human is killed, they have the courts to bring justice to their killers. We don't have that. This is the only justice I can give Penn."

Frown, "He's a vampire. Was a vampire. She's human."

"So vampires' lives are worth less?"

"Vampires are evil."

"Ah. I see." William sits. "I'll leave then. Don't want to burden you." He gets up. At least he has the story to give Drusilla now, and maybe she can help him on the hunt.

Angel nods at his back then freezes as he realizes he'll probably go out and hunt down Kate. "Wait!" He calls, following swiftly after the younger vampire, the younger *souled* vampire, the only other souled vampire in existence, the only other vampire who can understand. Angel really doesn't want to have to hunt him down for Kate's death.

William stops. He turns, looking at Angel. "Yes?"

"Umm... You should stay."

"Stay?" William has to admit a stirring deep inside him at that suggestion. "But..." He blinks. "But... why would you want me to stay?"

"Uh, you need to tell me about your siring and your soul and such." Angel congratulates himself on thinking of a suitable reason.

William considers. He really would like to get a chance to know Angel. To find out why Drusilla tried to keep him away. And the human will still be there to be hunted later. He nods, finally. "Very well. I supposed I'll need to arrange for a room nearby."

Raising an amused eyebrow, Angel gestures at the ceiling, "We're in a hotel, which I own."

"You're inviting me to stay here?"

"Well, I've certainly got the room." Angel shrugs casually - blithely unaware of what he'll be subjecting himself to.

William smiles, a brilliant, room-warming smile. "I'm honored. I'll have my things sent here, then."

Angel freezes and chokes a little as he feels his body react to that smile. 'Oh God!' He moans internally, 'What have I done?'

Cordelia can't contain herself. She comes in. "He's staying?!" She says to Angel, then looks at William like a lion at fresh meat. "Oh, thank you, Angel, and it isn't even my birthday!"

Angel drags his eyes from William to face her. "Wh..what?"

"He is *so* yummy." She looks at him. "I couldn't help but hear, about the soul and everything. It's not all curse-y? You can have nookie and everything?"

William is a little overwhelmed, but chuckles. "Yes, I can have 'nookie', if that means what I take it to mean. But..." He looks at Angel in confusion. "What's this about a curse?"

"My soul was returned by a gypsy curse." Angel mumbles his reply, shifting uncomfortable at the thought of this, frankly stunning, vampire and 'nookie'.

"Ah. We'll have to discuss it later." William can sense how uncomfortable the attractive but tremendously overenthusiastic woman is causing Angel to be right now, and figures the discussion is better done privately.

"Um. Yes." Angel nods thankfully. "Why don't I show you upstairs and let you choose a room?"

"Of course. Though perhaps you might formally introduce me to...?" He indicated Cordelia.

Cordelia squirms at the attention and nudges Angel hard. "Yeah, introduce us already. God, that accent."

"Oh yeah, um." Angel flushes faintly and puts his hand on the small of her back. "William this is Cordy, our secretary..."

William takes the hand she's offering for him to shake, turning it to kiss her knuckles gently. She shivers and moans, the smell of her arousal obvious. "Enchanted to meet you, Cordy."

"Cordy, this is William. It seems he's my grandchilde." Angel stops breathing in an effort to ignore the scent of the brunette's arousal.

Cordy grins. "Well hello William! It seems handsome runs in the family."

Coughing, Angel flushes a little more. "Down girl." He says, in an attempt at levity, "Don't mind her, she doesn't bite, much."

William grins and chuckles at that. "Oh, has she bitten you?"

"Unfortunately not yet." Angel murmurs quietly without thinking.

Both Cordelia and William look at him and Cordelia swats him. "You big vampire tease! You can't have nookie, no happies or it's Angelus time!"

"Ow." Angel rubs at his stomach where she smacked him and pouts petulantly. "Thank you for reminding me Cordelia. I'd almost forgotten that rather major fact."

William wrinkles his brow, definitely curious now about this curse.

"So, um upstairs?" Angel steps away from Cordy and gestures towards the stairs.

William nods. "Of course." He bows slightly in Cordelia's direction. "Til later," he says, and starts walking up the stairs.

Cordelia moves over so she can get a good look at his ass in those tight pants as he walks up the stairs.

Angel glares at her before following William up the stairs, though it doesn't take more than a second before his gaze fixes on his ass too.

At the top of the stairs William turns to wait for Angel. "So, where to now?"

"Huh?" Angel swallows as William's turn means that his eyes are now fixed on the crotch of his *tight* pants.

"You were going to show me to a room? Or would you prefer to go to yours?"

"Uh what?" Eyes flying up to meet amused blue, Angel flushes. "A room, right. Um this way." Shaking himself he leads the way down the corridor.

William follows behind him. Apparently he was having an effect on his grandsire. He contemplates for a moment letting the aura out to play, but then thinks better of it.

"I'm afraid only the rooms on this floor are really suitable for habitation." Angel explains as he stops. Gesturing he points out, "This one's Cordy's, the one next door is Wesley's, and that one's um, mine." Hoping that the younger vampire didn't notice his hesitation, Angel schools his face before turning to face him, "You can choose any of the other rooms."

William nods. "The one next to yours, you mind if I take that one?"

"No." Angel's reply is a little squeaky. Clearing his throat he tries again, "No, not at all."

"Thank you. So where shall we go to discuss things?"

"Um, well many of the rooms have a seating area, so I guess we can talk there once you've chosen one."

William looks at the rooms on either side of Angel's, taking the nicer one, and settling down on the couch in the sitting area.

Following him inside, Angel takes a seat on the other end of the couch. "So, um, you've spoken to Drusilla?" He asks, awkwardly.

"Briefly. She found me in New Orleans. Told me about Penn's death, that she couldn't come here, and that you had a soul." There's another strong touch of pain in William's eyes when he speaks about Penn.

Angel flinches at the reminder of why William was here, to find out about Penn's death. Swallowing he tries to turn the conversation away from such a painful topic. "She hadn't told you before then, about my soul?"

"I hadn't spoken to her since the night she turned me. She sent me away. Gave me a letter explaining what I was and giving me a few pointers and told me it would be dangerous to come see her, and especially to avoid you. Penn found me a few weeks later, took me in."

"What?" Angel was getting really tired of staring stupidly with his mouth open.

"I happened to be hunting on the docks when his ship arrived. He scented me as family and took me in. We were together until 1977."

"You hadn't seen her for over a hundred years?" Angel asks, still stuck on the first part of William's explanation.

"No. I hadn't. Well, I take that back. I saw all of you at a distance in China, in 1900."

"You were in China? And that close? Why didn't we sense you?"

"I don't know. You seemed...preoccupied. Drusilla saw me, I'm sure. And Penn rushed me away as quickly as he could."

Angel frowns at the thought that both Penn and William had been close by and neither he nor Darla had sensed them, though perhaps he did have a point - he was still struggling with his soul at the time, and Darla was busy testing and spying on him.

"Penn was my world. I loved him so much." William says. "He taught me everything, took care of me."

Taking a shaky breath Angel turns away, "I'm sorry." Staring at the wall, Angel finds himself quickly sinking into a mire of depression.

William gets up, crossing to Angel, hand reaching out to stroke his cheek. "I'm sorry. I know he was your childe. He spoke of you all the time."

Shuddering slightly at the caring touch, Angel helplessly leans into it. "He did?" He asks in a quiet, slightly choked tone.

"He did. He worshipped you."

"And yet he didn't come looking for me until recently." Angel replied somberly. After a moment, he explodes into movement, pushing angrily up from the couch to pace. "Dammit. Why couldn't he have just come to me, instead of playing his stupid games to get my attention? I could have told him, made him leave, he might still be..."

William drops his hand as Angel starts pacing in anger. "He couldn't give up his games. It's why I had to leave him."

"Stupid... fucking..." Angel snarls in anger and grief, picking a dust covered cup up of the side and throwing it at the wall. "God dammit!"

William stands still. He doesn't know Angel well enough to know his moods or his temper. He's worried about angering him more.

Covering his face with his hands, Angel's chest heaves with angry breaths as he tries to calm himself. "Gabriel." He moans quietly.

William moves over, standing behind Angel, wrapping arms around him.

Slumping in his hold, Angel sniffs quietly. "I shouldn't care. I have a soul, he was killing humans. I *should* *not* care."

"He's still your childe. You still made him. You still loved him."

"I was still Darla's childe, it didn't stop her from driving me away." Is the pain-filled reply.

"I don't know Darla." William says. "I don't know you, either. But I'd like to. It's very lonely."

"God yes." Angel groans, "So lonely."

William squeezes him tighter, feeling his pain, his loss, his loneliness.

Instinctively, Angel turns in his hold, returning the embrace and burying his face in a slim, pale neck.

William purrs very softly, soothingly. Even as he's comforting him, he's all too aware of the strong muscular body against his.

Half sighing, half groaning at the barely there sound of a vampire purr - it's been so very long since he's heard that sound of comfort - Angel nuzzles at his throat. So absorbed in the sound, and feel, and scent of family, he doesn't even realize that his body is reacting strongly to William in his arms.

William can't help but react as well. The feel of Angel nuzzling at his throat, and smelling and feeling Angel's reaction to him...he certainly can't stop himself from becoming aroused.

Eyes closed, Angel rubs his lips over William's silent pulse point, his tongue darting out to lap lightly at the skin as he pulls the smaller man more firmly against him.

William moans softly as he's pulled tight against him. He turns instinctively, submissively, to bare his neck. He has no idea why he's reacting like this to Angel.

It's only as his fangs drop at William's submission that Angel realizes what's happening. "Shit!" Letting go, Angel steps back abruptly. This doesn't help much when he's confronted by a flushed and obviously aroused William. "Oh God." He groans fervently, closing his eyes.

William's confused by being shoved back, then he remembers Cordelia's teasing. "Oh. Angel. I'm so sorry...I didn't think...I was just trying to comfort you."

"Of course. It's fine. No problem." Angel replies, eyes still closed. "It was nice of you to try to comfort me."

William takes a few deep breaths, trying to will his erection down. "Why don't you explain your curse?"

"Oh it's simple really." Angel says with a calming breath. "I'm sure Cordelia would have lots of fun telling you all about how we found out the details. Vampire, cursed with a soul, curse broken by a moment of perfect happiness..."

"So...does that mean no sex at all? I mean, perfect happiness sounds difficult to achieve."

"Well, nobody seems quite sure what perfect happiness is, so I figured it wasn't worth the risk, you know?"

"Ah." William sits down. "Perhaps it's not a good idea for me to stay here. I am a Seducer, and a powerful one at that. Since I've used the gift almost exclusively to feed all these years."

"A Seducer. Of course." Angel sighs, annoyed with himself for not realizing. He frowns as he takes in the rest of William's words. "You use it to feed? You kill even with a soul?"

"I Seduce, and take a little. I do occasionally kill criminals. Rapists, child molesters, murderers. But primarily I just seduce and take a small amount at a time."

"Oh. Right." Angel blinks, surprised. "But... they're still human."

"Who kill and hurt other humans."

"But..."

"It's better to leave them alive to keep killing and raping and molesting?"

"Um...no?" Angel frowns in confusion, "But... they should be handed over to the police or something?"

"Why? So they can be put in prison and maybe kill guards? Or get let off and go back to doing bad things?"

"Um..." Ok, *now* Angel's confused. He's never questioned the whole 'no killing humans - any humans' rule that he learned in Sunnydale.

"But all my undead existence, I've only killed one innocent. The man who had the misfortune to bump into me the night I was made. I was horrified even then, before the soul. I made sure to only hunt criminals after."

"Really?" Angel is shocked at the thought of a vampire regretting killing. "When did you get your soul?" Angel's brow is lowered as he considers, "Is that why Dru told you to stay away?"

"I got the soul a few months after I was made. And I don't know why she told me to stay away."

"How did you get it?" Angel asks, wondering why nobody ever said, or maybe even knew, that there was another souled vampire, one that had got his soul before him.

"I don't know. It just happened. My eyes glowed, there was this terrible pain, and it was there."

"You don't know." Sighing with disappointment, Angel finally sits back down. "And Dru never gave you any explanation for her actions?"

"Not really. Her letter was very vague." He considers for a moment. "Would you like to see it?"

"You still have it?"

"Of course. I carry it always."

"Ok." Angel nods. "Um, why?"

"It's the only thing I have from my Sire."

"Oh. Of course." Angel still doesn't quite understand, why would the boy want to keep anything that was to do with a sire that abandoned him on the night of his turning?

William pulls out the letter, now carefully preserved and laminated. He hands it to Angel to read.

Blinking at the efforts that have gone into protecting the small document, Angel reads it. He frowns as he realizes that Dru must actually have been very lucid when she wrote this; that she had obviously Seen quite clearly as she seemed to have not only realized that her childe would be a Seducer, but that he might not be a killer like so many of their kind. He frowns harder as he reads the last, "Slavery and ruination and pain." He murmurs to himself, "What did she See?"

"I don't know. It's bothered me all these years, the central riddle of my existence. Why did she do what she did?"

"Why did Drusilla do anything?" Angel sighs morosely, wishing for what must be the thousandth time that he hadn't driven the poor wench out of her mind.

"When did you get your soul?"

"1898, Romania." Angel replies, reluctantly.

"So you were around a long time before you got your soul. Penn didn't know. He described your...umm... proclivities to me."

"Oh." Angel shudders at that.

"You seem...tortured...by your soul."

"Um, well yeah. That was kind of the idea, with the curse and all."

"That's sad." William wants to move forward to comfort him again. He's acutely uncomfortable with the fact that he can't.

"I guess," Angel shrugs awkwardly, "But it's not like I don't deserve to suffer."

"No one deserves to suffer forever."

Angel shrugs again despondently, "Apparently I won't."

William steps closer. "What do you mean?"

"There's this prophecy, that the souled vampire will fight in the apocalypse and then as a reward get his heart's desire." Angel explains. He looks up at William as his eyes widen. "Souled vampire! Shit!"

"What? Oh." William blinks. "Oh. That's..." His voice trails off.

"Um. Yeah." Angel looks away and stares at the far wall again.

William makes a little noise in his throat. "Perhaps I shouldn't have come. It seems I've only brought you pain." He steps back. He's considering whether or not he should just walk away.

"No!" Angel turns back to him and stands quickly. "No. That's ok. It's not like it's you're fault. Any of it."

"You seemed to be content enough. I've just stirred things up."

"True, but then, maybe it's better to know the truth. For one hundred years I've thought I was the only one, the only one with a soul." Angel takes a step towards him.

"I guess I did too. Penn told me it wasn't anything he'd ever heard of." William can't take his eyes off Angel as he steps closer.

Angel's voice trembles a little as he asks, taking another step. "He knew? That you had a soul?"

"Yes, he did. He could smell it on me. For years, he hunted only criminals, out of deference to me. To stay with me. But he couldn't keep it up forever."

"He didn't care? He curbed himself for you?" Angel can scarcely believe how it's possible, after the way Darla was towards him when he got his soul.

"He curbed himself for me." William's a little confused. Why wouldn't someone do something like that, for someone they loved?

"God." Angel gives a humorless laugh and turns away one more. All those years alone, so sure that none of his family would accept him, and all the time he could have been with his Gabriel.

William makes a noise in his throat, a little whimper. He's hurt Angel again and he never intended to. He steps back again, towards the door.

Hearing that small sound, Angel turns back again. "What's wrong?"

"I keep causing you pain. I can feel it."

"It's not you." Angel shakes his head. "Not your fault"

William sighs. "Is there any way I can help? Make it better?"

Angel shakes his head again and echoes the sigh, "No, what's past is past. There's no use dwelling on it."

William steps closer.

Scrubbing his hand over his face, Angel tries to smile. "I guess I should let you get settled, fetch your things."

William nods. "I suppose so."

"Right." Nodding back, Angel starts to move towards the door, stopping beside him to rest his hand on William's shoulder. "You can stay as long as you want."

William purrs a little at the words and the touch. "Thank you."

Angel's breath catches as William turns to look up at him, finding himself sinking into the most beautiful blue eyes. He's close enough that he can smell the younger vampire's sweet scent, and his palm tingles where it rests on one strong shoulder.

William can feel the tingle as well. There's something there, some sort of primal attraction. He's sure if their demons ever touched...he pulls his mind away from that because it threatens to make his cock stand up again.

"Umm." Angel clears his throat awkwardly. "Yeah. I'll leave you to it." He steps away, giving William a small smile before striding from the room.

William sighs. He settles back onto the couch, draping across it, and pulling out his cell phone to make arrangements to have his luggage delivered.

Coming to a stop five feet down the corridor, Angel closes his eyes and takes a shaky breath. He can feel his cock hard between his legs and has to struggle to control himself, trying to persuade himself that it's just the effect of being so close to a member of his family - that he can easily overcome it.

His call over, William moves over to the bed to stretch out. He squirms for a bit before deciding his clothes were just too much right now. He gets up and strips off his clothes, laying down on the sheets and wriggling naked against them.

Giving up on trying to regain control, Angel heads for his room, and a cold shower.