Will slowly pulls on his jeans, enjoying the fact that they no longer hang quite so loosely on his hips. He glances at the bathroom door, "He's takin' enough soddin' time in there!"

Grey eyes twinkle, "Worried he's going to use up all the hot water, Pup?" When there is no smart response Penn changes his tone, "Just worried, then?"

"Yeah, mate.I think I might 'ave - "

Their conversation stops abruptly as there are three firm knocks on the hotel room door, and a shrill female voice calls out, "Angel! Angel - we know you're in there!"

Not speaking, Penn nods once to Will, asking him silently to stay where he is as the older demon moves to the door, pulling it open quickly.

Two astonished faces greet him, he manages to stifle his anger and ask genially, "Room service?"

The male looks befuddled, "What? Er.no, actually, we're Angel's.." his voice trails off as he realizes exactly to who he is speaking and he pales noticeably, "You're.him."

Penn tilts his head, wondering whether to just snap the man's neck, or.

"What do you want Wesley?" Angelus appears at his Childe's side looking damp and angry.

The ex-Watcher begins to stutter, so Cordelia pushes forward, "We're here to save your sorry ass, Angel.you just disappeared! And here you are, living the life of.I don't know what, with.what did you call him? Apt pupil, guy."

Angelus growls, "His name is Penn.and you'd better watch your tongue, girl."

The vampire in question is staring incredulously at his Sire talking to the.food. He looks back at Will who shows none of his consternation, but only looks a little amused.and hungry.

The girl stops short at the tone of Angelus' voice and moves to back away towards the doorway but is stopped as Penn steps forward and grabs her hand. "So sorry, we haven't been properly introduced. I don't know where my Sire's manners are, but any friend of Angel's" sarcasm dripping from his voice as he speaks that name, "Is a friend of the family's." he looks over his shoulder at blue eyes open wide in shock at his actions, "Isn't that right, William?"

The larger demon snarls out, "Boy!", Penn smiles but drops the girl's hand, moving back into the room with his brother.

Angelus' attention turns back to the humans, as he tries to maintain his composure, "Wesley. Cordelia. I appreciate your concern, but - "

He is unable to complete his sentence as Cordelia blurts out, "Oh! One of you gave him a happy.didn't you?!"

Blue eyes glitter with amusement as William slips an arm around his brother's waist, "One, luv? There are two of us ya know."

The girl shudders, "Okay, that's just way too much information..and hey! If you are Angelus why haven't you eaten us yet? Or is this going to be one of those drawn out torture things?"

Will feels Penn grow rigid beside him as his brother speaks, "That's a good question, I'm rather curious about the answer myself."

Angelus turns to face Penn, his hands clenched into fists held at his side, "Because I take care of my own."

His eldest Childe is visibly upset, "And they are your own???"

"Calm down, boy!" His voice is low and commanding, and while his Childe doesn't flinch from his gaze, he remains silent.

As the demon turns back to the humans, he catches the Englishman's hand slipping into his coat and he smiles, "Don't even think about it Wesley, you're smarter than that. Now I want you both to listen to me very carefully. If you want to live, then you leave now. Take the agency, everything...it's yours. I had papers drawn up some time ago in case anything ever happened to me. I'm not coming back, and you shouldn't ever look for me."

Angelus is looking at Wesley, wondering if the man is coherent enough to follow his words. The Englishman cocks his head and looks at the demon curiously, "Angelus.Angel? Which are you?"

The vampire shakes his head, "You'll never know. This isn't a long-term offer, Wesley. Penn looks hungry, and so does William. Take Cordelia and get out.NOW!"

Startled from his analysis by the vehemence of the words, Wesley pulls gently at Cordelia and they back out of the hotel room.

Angelus closes the door and turns to face his Childer. "Well?" He asks, "Which of you wants to start?"

Will puts his hands up, "Not me.I actually.I understand, Angelus."

Penn turns to his brother in shock, "You understand? You understand why he let the food walk off? Why he spoke to them?"

Will looks into grey eyes, "Gem, ya chose a way of life that meant ya never looked at 'em as anythin' but food. At's yer choice. Angelus and me.we've known humans, that.well, that we've liked. There."

"What? I can't believe you Will! They're just a means to an end.sustenance!"

"Yes luv, but sometimes it isn't just needin' 'em fer blood. Some of 'em are loyal, some of 'em are right good company." Seeing no understanding in his brother's eyes, he continues, "Penn.if ya two hadn't a been lookin' that night fer anythin' other than food.that's what I woulda been to ya."

Anger flashes in grey eyes, "Bite your tongue, William!"

The blonde takes no offence at his brother's words, "Ahh.but I'd much rather have ya do that for me, Gem. Think about it.we were all human once.so mebbe you've overlooked a little potential out there. 'Sides..ya should at least try shaggin' 'em.they're so bloody warm.s'great!" He ends with a leer that his brother can't help but smile at.

"You forget Pup, I'm already aware of that potential. But I'll think about what you've said."

"Ya just want me to shut up. I know yer humorin' me..."

"No, I'm not."

"Yeah, ya are."

"No I'm not!"

"Yeah."

"No I'm - "

Angelus interrupts his Childer's bickering, "Enough! If you two are done?" They both turn their attention back to their Sire. "Penn, you and I have some business to attend to."

The light in Penn's face becomes clouded, "You're right.of course."

Will is on his feet in an instant, standing between the two, "You're not doin' this without me! I'm goin' with ya!"

Penn moves toward his brother, his hands moving to grasp the other's arms, "Will.Pup.you have to let us do this.alone. This is human scum we're dealing with. And as much as we both want you fighting by our side, that can't be yet. Look at me William." His words forcing blue eyes to lock onto his, "Trust me, love. Sire and I will do what needs to be done, and we'll be back. We'll get out of this place, and we will all leave together. I promise you this."

The blonde turns as another large hand is placed on his shoulder, "We promise you, lad. We'll take care of this, and then nothing will stop us. Will you trust us?"

Will takes both their hands, drawing their bodies against his, a moan escaping his lips as their forms press into him, "Not like I have a bloody choice." He tilts his neck back, laying his head on Angelus' shoulder, "Promise me one more thing, Sire."

"Anything and everything, William." The words uttered carefully and tenderly at his ear.

Will smiles, understanding, "Bring me back something special.since I can't go with you." A gasp follows his request as Penn presses his lips to the blonde's exposed throat.

Grey eyes lift to meet brown, but his words are for his brother, "Not to worry, Pup. Sire is going to spoil you rotten."

Will can feel Angelus' mouth move in a smile against his ear, and with a dramatic sigh, he slips from between them, "Right then.ya'd best be off - I don't want to wait longer than I have ta for me pressie."

Angelus laughs, "Spoiled." Penn finishes, "Brat."

---------------------------------------------------

Angelus settles heavily into the unfamiliar passenger seat of his car, glancing over to Penn who sits grinning at him, his hand poised over the keys in the ignition. "What?" the dark man asks irritably.

"You really hate letting someone else drive this thing, don't you?"

"Yes."

"And you're letting me drive because.?"

"You know where we're going."

"It still bothers you."

"Yes."

"So - "

"Shut up and drive the car, Penn."

"Yes, Sire." Penn smiles and turns the key, revving the motor. As he pulls away from the hotel, his grin fades and he looks uneasily at the man sitting next to him. "Angelus, can I ask you something that doesn't involve your vehicle?"

"What is it?"

"Tell me what happened. The soul."

"You know. William told you."

"I want you to tell me. I haven't heard your story."

"It hurt like hell. And I should know."

Penn lets that obtuse comment slide, "It hurt when you killed her?"

Angelus settles back into the seat, staring out the window, a ghost of a smile flitting across his face. "No.that part was.good.as always. The pain came later. After her family found her.after they invoked the curse. While that was bad.the hurt like hell part.that came a little later."

"Tell me."

"It's strange when I think about it.it's not like she was some great beauty, or even powerful, she just belonged to the wrong family. Romany.gypsies.I swear if I ever meet one of those fuckers again.."

"These people were really into vengeance, I mean on a Zen-like level that I would have really appreciated if it hadn't been directed at me. They didn't want me dead, they didn't want to kill one of my own, an eye for an eye, you know.they wanted me to regret what I'd done to their family. What is regret to a human, except their soul.their conscience? So one orb of Thessala, a few herbs and some chanting later, and I've got Liam's soul back. Which is the real kicker when you think about it, because it isn't the demon that they've managed to get their regret from.it's the human bastard I used to be. Almost funny if you didn't have to live it."

"So there's poor Liam, thrust into the body of a demon, and all my memories of my glorious existence shoved down his throat.and me. In the beginning, I was there too, mostly because he didn't really understand what I was and how we were joined. He figured it out pretty quickly though."

"I looked through his tears and saw that old gypsy bastard waving his burning sage at me and I wanted nothing more than to rip his throat out..but no! Goody-two-shoes soul wouldn't have any of that.so we ran. I ran. The great Master Vampire, Angelus.Scourge of Europe.ran from an old man.I still get disgusted just thinking about that. But we knew where to run.home."

"The old man had said the soul would begin to remember, I didn't know what he meant, or what to expect, but I knew what it was when it hit. We were about a mile from home and it was as though we'd collided with an invisible wall. Hit the ground like that." Angelus' hand reaches out and smacks the dashboard hard for effect. "All of a sudden there were these amazing pictures flooding my brain.every kill I'd ever been a part of was there in bright, beautiful technicolor. Well, I thought it was beautiful. The soul did not. I could feel his revulsion like bugs crawling on my skin, like a snaked wrapping around my middle. Then a wave of nausea hit like you wouldn't believe, and there we were, doubled up on the ground dry heaving and screaming like a woman. I have to say, it was not my finest night."

Penn has been listening raptly to the story, but allows himself a question as they pull up to a stoplight, "Why do you keep saying 'we'?"

The larger man snorts, "Because it was 'we'. At least in the beginning. I still had total awareness then.so there really were two beings in this one body. It took him a while to stifle me down and lock me away. It actually wasn't too difficult since he wouldn't feed, at least not on humans. Echhh.the things he would eat.it was absolutely disgusting!! Trust me.rats were a delicacy considering some of the things he put in my mouth! But I digress."

"So Soul-Boy.and someday I'll thank the little shit for naming him that.Soul-Boy is just shrieking in terror at all the fine sights and sounds of me at my best being replaying in stereo in our mind, so I just sat back and relaxed, watched the show. Figured it had to end sooner or later. Turns out it was later, because you can kill a hell of a lot of people in a hundred plus years. Finally we're lying still on the ground, just looking up at the dead branches of the tree above us. I'm thinking that maybe since we've gone through all his agony and angst over my skill as a hunter, maybe the curse is just something that will wear off. I'll have this invader in me for a day or two, and then everything will go back to normal. I'll find some nice, non-gypsy humans to gorge myself on, and all will be right as rain."

"Nope.no such luck. The bastard stands, and this time I know it's him standing and not us. He stands and hangs his head.his shoulders slumped, but I could feel my hands drawn into tight fists and the loon starts talking out loud.and then I realize the fucker is talking to ME! He says, "No. Never again. No more lives. It ends here." Well I can honestly say I was more than a little angry at this point, but I couldn't do a damn thing. He had control, but I don't think he knew how much. The only thing I could do was think about home, Darla.safety. That seemed to do the trick, because the next thing I knew we were running as fast as we could back to the house."

"We leaned against the doorframe of my home, the light from the fire spilling over us and into the cold night. Darla looked up from her book, smiling at first. Gods, I had never been so happy to see her. I just wanted to sink into her, wraps my arms around her, let her make my world right again. Then she was standing.and she wasn't smiling.she was sniffing the air, and approaching me like she didn't know me. She looked at me with such disgust, it ripped my demon heart apart, and when she hissed at me, asking "What are you??" I wished I was dead."

Angelus looks over to see Penn's hands gripping the steering wheel, his knuckles white with tension, and his mouth set in a grim line. "Sorry lad, you know what it is to have your own Sire look at you and not recognize you for what you are.blood of your blood, kin of your kin. You know what I felt."

Penn expels air from his lungs sharply; unaware of the anxiety that has been riveting his body. "I know. But at least I could run from what I found in Los Angeles. At least I could find home again in Will. You had nothing to go to, and you were locked in that body. I had no idea."

The older demon smiles, reaching out a hand to brush the hair away from grey eyes now focused on the dark road in front of them. "You couldn't know, Penn. No one could. The soul turned and ran from that house, and I only wished to all things unholy that he had never looked back. But blood calls to blood. He was weak. There were moments when I could make him act on my impulses, and I never regretted it so much as Peking."

"You were there.I'd heard stories."

"Yes. I was there.or I should say we were. It was a lonely life trying to stay away from all living things. And what little power I had I used to torture us both. I could make him remember my life, but I could make him remember him the way I felt it. Not the killing of course.but family.my loves. Over long nights when our body lay shaking with cold sweat from hunger I would fill his brain with the images. Capturing those flashes of my body poised over yours, drinking in your rapture as I plunged into your tightness. My mouth on William's lips as he opened his mouth and body to me. The utter peace I felt in my own Sire's embrace. The simple delight of watching Drusilla puzzle out one of her visions. My family. This he could not take from me. And this I forced on him whenever possible. Finally got to poor Liam. What else did he know except my family, his being dust in the grave for over a hundred years? So we went to Darla. I think she knew that neither of us was altogether in control and wanted to keep us in her sights".

"It was so stupid. Four European vampires at the heart of an anti-European riot. But Drusilla and Darla were delighted; chaos was the perfect sauce for their hunger. And my beautiful boy? He was fury and desire wrapped in white-hot rage for me. He couldn't understand why Darla allowed me near them. He despised what I'd become, and hated me for separating you two. But he never asked me where you were. He was too intent on proving to me how little he needed anything in the world."

"I'll never forget that night.he sauntered down the street with his arm around Drusilla and he positively glowed with ferocity. He was the most amazing and predatory creature there, and he knew it. He froze when he saw me, the mask slipping for a moment." Angelus' fists slam into his own thighs in frustration. "Fuck, Penn! He needed his Sire. He needed me! Needed me to be proud of him, to crow with him. And what could I do? Nothing. I'd lost control. The soul was horrified at the blood still wet on the boy's mouth, it was repelled at the sight of Drusilla leaning in and taking it up with little cat-licks of her tongue. I raged.I swore.and none of it mattered, they couldn't see me, or hear me."

"I knew it was the end. Knew it as I saw the mask slip back over his face. I barely heard his taunts; "Hey.Angelus.just bagged me first Slayer. You've never had one 'ave ya? Not likely to either, what with yer bein' impotent and all!" "

"Darla left my side and went to Will, pulling him into her arms and kissing his forehead, "Wonderful, boy! I'm so proud!" It broke me to see her able to give him the praise I couldn't."

"The three faces of my family turned to me, and they were so precious to me.the only happiness I'd ever known was in their presence. They never said a word. Their arms locked around eachother and they walked away from me. I didn't see any of them again until I came to Sunnydale."

Penn is frowning as he turns the car onto a roughly paved road leading into a densely forested area outside of the town. "And you came to Sunnydale for this girl.a human??" He asks incredulously.

"Not me.dammit! Why does everyone think it's me? The fucking soul wanted her. It thought by helping her, by loving her, it would somehow make him more human and less a demon. And this Liam, he'd gotten stronger, he knew how to use those memories I threw up at him. Used them against Spike.or he tried to. But my boy was wilier than that...he wasn't taken in for a second.used the bastard's tricks on himself!"

Both men smile in the darkness at the thought of their triumphant blonde boy. But Penn presses for more, "But you came back.the curse was lifted.why did you hurt him? Why did you use our Princess?"

Angelus smiles darkly, "I see he told you everything about my brief return. I hardly know what to tell you, Penn.I know how much you hate what happened then and later. But I'd been locked away, buried for so many years.only getting glimpses of the world outside. When I was suddenly free.I was drunk with it.insane. And all of my rage was focused on that one girl.I saw her as the reason for all the stinking humanity that hung about me like a shroud. And William.wasn't William. He was a bitter, acid-tongued creature who stood between me and my hell-bent vengeance on the Slayer."

Penn bites back a remark and his gaze darts to his Sire who is watching him intently. When his Childe remains silent, Angelus shrugs and continues, "I know it was a shitty reason, Penn.never said I had a good one. It's not an excuse.it's just what was. Poor Dru was just a tool to help me get what I wanted. And what I wanted was to destroy the world. Not the best plan I've ever had, but Will was there to stop me, and pay me back.helped send me to Hell for a few centuries. I'll tell you right now.don't ever piss that boy off."

"Hell?"

"That's another story.not sure it's one you want to hear. And it's not one I want to tell right now."

"So.you still have it.the soul."

"Yes."

"Does it hurt?"

"Not really.I gave it a happy."

"Good.we'll see it stays well fed then." A slight pause, and then Penn reaches out, grabbing Angelus' hand in his own and clasping it, "Thank you.for telling me. I needed to know."

The darker demon places his free hand over their twined fingers; "I'm glad you asked, Gem."

An easier silence falls between the two as Penn guides the car along a winding, tree-lined road. The wheels spin through fall leaves, sending them spinning and falling again to the side of the road. He pulls off the paved highway, down a rutted dirt lane, and parks the car.

"There." He says, getting out of the car and pointing to a clearing where the edges of an old cement bunker pokes out from overgrown bushes

*****