*****

From the first, he was haunted by the memory of another face. Same blue eyes, same cocky attitude, but the accent was all wrong and this one did not need to be turned to lose his soul. Angel tried, but every encounter with the man conjured up more images of Spike when he was human. He looked at Lindsey and all he could see was his favourite Childe, the beautiful boy Angelus loved too much to spend eternity without.

His demon loved the young man's self-assured attitude. William the Bloody knew he could take anything he wanted; he was afraid of no one and nothing. William always won because he had no qualms about brutally clearing the playing field. A master of torture and a heartless killer before Angelus chanced upon him, the vampire tracked William for over a year before approaching the enthralling youth.

When Lindsey walked up to Angel and handed him his card, Angel couldn't smell or sense any fear. He knew Angel was a vampire, he didn't know Angel had a soul. He approached Angel with the confidence of a man who never suffered defeat, a man who only caused pain, never received it. Angel glanced at the hard blue eyes and his demon woke up. The vampire was immediately taken back two centuries to his first collision with William.

Angelus raged out of the alley behind the stable yard. The small woman didn't even have enough blood in her to serve as an appetizer, let alone a full meal. He was hungry, and not only was the girl too skinny to feed from, she had put up a surprisingly powerful fight and tried to stake him. Breaking the girl's neck did not help appease his anger after his latest confrontation with his Sire.

Fifty years as a vampire and she thought of him as a fledgling. He Sired his own Childe and she still called him "boy". Admittedly Penn was a mistake, his human hatred ruling his vampire life. It was all Darla's fault anyway. If she wasn't too busy with her stupid English aristocrats or running off every time her Sire snapped his fingers, she would give Angelus the attention he deserved and he wouldn't have had to turn Penn in the first place. Tonight she informed him not only was he not allowed to Sire anything above a minion, he wasn't to hunt alone either. He hated blondes. That girl was blonde, his Sire was blonde. It must to be something in the hair.

Musing about the possibility of dining exclusively on light haired victims and intriguing new methods of mutilation he would design for them, Angelus slammed into the man entering the alley he was exiting.

The young man pushed at Angelus. "Watch it you fuckin' wanker. You don't own the bloody road. " He smelled of whiskey and blood. Clothes dishevelled, knuckles red, he'd just come from one fight and was looking for another.

Angelus stood a head taller and had at least two stone on his would be antagonist. His menacing presence didn't even give the young man pause. He kept shoving and provoking the vampire. "Stupid noblemen, think you own the whole world. Well try this one on Peaches. Some of us aren't indebted to you or none of your ilk. Don't have to take shit from you bleedin' nonces."

Angelus easily caught the fist before it connected with his face. The small hand fit almost entirely in his palm. His finger rested on the pulse point under the slight wrist, the touch confirmed what he wasn't hearing. No rapid heart beat; the man wasn't enraged, just drunk. He didn't doubt he could take the vampire.

Angelus released the fist and gently pushed the drunk back a few steps. He smirked and waited. Even when he was human, smaller men cowered from him. This one didn't even give it a second thought.

Disoriented and unable to make out his prey in the dark alley. "Tosser" the drunk spat out and continued toward his original destination. Stumbling into the darkness yelling , "Rich bastards, all think they can order you about. Showed him didn't I. Stand up and they run off screaming in the night, wet knickers and all."

Angelus forgot his unsatisfactory meal and the argument with his Sire. "What," he wondered, "would it take to properly scare that one? Or would he be disappointingly fearful sober?" The vampire quietly stalked the young man to his quarters. The next night he would return to answer one of the questions.

Two hundred years later, he was still trying to find the answer to the first question, and here was Lindsey looking at him with the same self-assured grin, the same I-dare-you-to- try-it attitude. Angel inhaled and forced his demon to focus on the other vampire in the room. "We'll come back to the boy later," he promised.

*****
Part 2:

Angel sat in the dark brooding. Nothing new there except the location; he was locked in his bathroom. Cordelia and Wesley were right. He did spend too much time brooding and needed to spend more time forging connections with human beings. Sometimes he needed to think and he had to be alone to do that. The trouble was his human compatriots couldn't tell the difference between brooding Angel and deep in thought Angel, though even he admitted it was hard to discern between the two. Regardless, he did not want to be interrupted.

Therefore, the Scourge of Europe, the Master Vampire Angelus was sitting, sulking in his bathtub. It was the only place in the small room he could stretch. The cold of the tile did not bother him. His legs cramped up around his ears did. He laughed. When he thought of all the changes a little thing like a soul made in his unlife, this wasn't one of them. He retreated to baths when he needed to escape Drucilla and William's endless chatter and demands for entertainment. It terrified him to remember what the two of them came up with when left to their own devices. That's why one of them usually ended up in the bath with him.

The recollection brought him back full circle to the object of his brooding, Lindsey McDonald. Blue eyes, dark hair and over powering self-confidence, he fell for it every time. This time the cockiness was tempered with just enough polish to intrigue his soul as well as his demon. He wondered if the mortal knew or cared about the dangerous ground he was treading on with the vampire. Angel smirked. If Lindsey knew, he would probably use it to his advantage.

Lindsey was the type who would enjoy the vampire's soulless incarnation, just like Spike. That was the real problem; it all came back to Will. A century after leaving him Angel still craved the company of his boy. Will was perfect: sexy, strong, crafty, a love of violence and the hunt, almost totally immoral. He changed very little when he was turned. If anything it calmed him down and tempered his violent nature. At least as a vampire Spike was able to make plans.

Lindsey was better; he could make plans now. He was crafty and cunning already. Angel would not have to teach him very much after he turned him.

Whoa. Bad thought, relaxing a little too much old man, he chided himself. Be careful, you do not want to let Angelus loose.

On cue, the demon reminded Angel how red and suckable Lindsey's lips were. How Lindsey chewed his lower lip, when he was thinking, just like Will.

He's not Will, Angel tried reminding himself.

No, he's better, and he is available, Angelus shot back. Think of what you could make him into.

The demon recalled the images and emotions he had concerning the young lawyer. After immolating Russell Winters, Angelus returned Angel to Lindsey and used the rejection of the lawyer's offer as an excuse to press his undead hand over the beating heart. Angelus almost hummed in pleasure to discover a heartbeat unaffected by his display. The lad was not terrified or even scared; he was intrigued, and judging by the perfume of the air surrounding him, a little aroused as well. An appreciation of violence was so hard to find in modern corporate America. They preferred their violence in the abstract.

Ever since that first meeting Angel found himself hoping every Wolfram and Hart encounter included Lindsey. He looked like Will. He thought like Will. He even smelled like Will. Angel knew he could never have his favourite Childe back, but this mortal might be the perfect substitute. Angel's obsession was growing, and his soul had a harder time differentiating between the two men than his demon. Angelus knew Lindsey was and could be much more than Will. Angel was too busy hating himself for wanting Spike.

Angel thought about the events of the past few days. When Lindsey entered his office, he smiled at the vampire. It was not a friendly greeting smile. It was a predatory smile, just like Will used to wear. Angel hit his forehead. Will again, always back to Will. He had to stop this. He tried to think of the ways they were different.

The lawyer was already evil. No, that wasn't different; Spike was a psychopathic killer before he was turned. He thought of Lindsey's demeanour: cocky self-assured and seemingly careless, but the man was a lawyer, everything planned out. Lindsey was always in control. It would save so much time after he was turned. Angel remembered the nightmare of trying to train Spike. It never worked. He was still undisciplined. The vampire thought about how much he could achieve with Lindsey at his side, how enjoyable the days would be with Lindsey in his bed.

The one area he'd been successful in training Will, Angel smiled thinking of how quickly the boy had taken to vampire sexuality. He reflected on the night that he turned William. After stalking the boy for nearly a year, he was too impatient to bury him and wait until he rose. Angelus drained and turned his prize as quickly as he could, holding the body against his as it rapidly turned cold and the heart stopped beating. He never let William rest after he feed from Angel the first time.

Instead, he pulled the boy's mouth to his own, claiming it. The kiss was hard and brutal. He used his fangs to chew through the new vampire's lips. He tasted his own blood lightly spiced with the flavour that was to grow into William the Bloody. His new Childe woke up hungry for Angelus, returning the biting kiss with the same intensity. He drank his Sire's blood as he sucked on Angelus tongue. Vampire sex was not about tenderness and William revealed in it. He bit and clawed with the same passion he received Angeles's punishing affections.

William seemed to enjoy his Sire's domination. He fought and bucked until exhausted; he begged Angelus to take him. The vampire rewarded his Childe's acquiescence by ferociously taking him until William lay unconscious, Angelus's cock and fangs deeply imbedded in his flesh.

Afterward Angelus would leave the boy and feed. Returning flush from the kill, his favourite Childe straining the chains that held him to the bed, he would smile and satisfy the hunger that came to life every time he saw his boy. None of his Childer cried as fiercely as William.

Angel shook his head and struggled to stop wondering if Lindsey would make the same choking whimper as Will. He forced his mind away from the image of the lawyer gagged and bound across his bed. He left the bathroom and started to change for the party. Maybe Cordelia's new client, David something, could take his mind off the enchanting combination of dark hair and blue eyes.

*****
tbc