Willow knelt down nervously, the empty classroom seeming to close in around her as Anya carefully arranged the last of the various coloured powders which rested on the floor between them.

Willow wondered briefly at the wisdom of what she was about to do, but resolutely cast her doubts aside. [Boring old Willow might not be up for some spell-casting, but New Willow is. Definitely. I mean, it's just one little spell.] "So how does the spell work?" she asked nervously, wondering what exactly she was getting herself into.

Anya looked up, an expression of vague irritation on her face. "We both call on Eryishon, the Endless One, offer up the standard supplication, then there's a teensy temporal fold. I pour the sacred sand on the representation of the necklace, and Eryishon brings it forth from the time and place it was lost.

[Wow, we are calling on the Endless One. A bit more interesting than levitating pencils!] Willow thought smugly. Smiling, she muttered "Cool" before getting herself settled comfortably as Anya began.

"Eryishon. K'shala. Meh-uhn.

Willow took a deep breath and struggled to keep her voice steady as she responded. "D'iprecht. Doh-tehenlo nu-Eryishon."

Anya picked up the bottle of sand , and said "The child to the mother", waiting for Willow to take her turn and reply, smiling as the redhead added "The river to the sea".

Willow could feel the magical energies building in he room, and at Anya's final words, "Eryishon, hear my prayer," a blast of pure power filled the room.

A mosaic of images filled Willow's mind; Anya strangling Giles, herself and Xander as vampires, the missing necklace, a savage-looking Buffy staking Xander, herself impaled on a piece of broken wood, the Master grabbing Buffy. Willow felt sand touching her fingers before the images blurred too fast for her to register, then there was a bone shaking jolt and she felt her stomach drop, as if she were on a roller-coaster, then everything went black.

Her first thoughts as she slowly re-awakened were: [No more magic for me. Those dark arts are just a bit too dark]. Struggling to open her eyes, Willow looked at her hazy surroundings in confusion. [I was in a classroom. Chairs. Tables. Definitely no bars. Maybe I'm dreaming?] Blinking quickly, Willow realised to her horror that the images around her were growing sharper rather than fading away. Xander standing next to her prone form, his boots next to her face. [Why is Xander holding a whip? Why are we in a cage? And why is he wearing leather pants?]

The Xander-lookalike above her grinned in what was undeniably an evil way, and Willow realised that the last part of her mental conversation had unfortunately been spoken aloud.

"Don't you like them?" Xander asked in a hurt tone. "I guess I could always just take them off." He fingered the front of his trousers suggestively then gave Willow a leer that had her scrambling across the floor away from him, only to back into a large, unmoving object. An unmoving object that winced when Willow leant back against it.

Turning her head slowly, Willow's confused green eyes met a pair of troubled brown eyes. "Angel?" Willow asked with a gasp, before her eyes dropped down and registered the complete lack of any clothing on the usually well-dressed vampire. [Wow, this is one weird dream,] Willow decided before wondering whether it really was a dream. [Is this real? Oh my god, weird Xander and naked Angel!]

"Angel!" she blurted out in horror, her face flushing as she quickly averted her eyes. [What next?] she wondered almost abstractly. Could things get any moe bizarre?

Only to have her question answered as the Master entered through the cage's open door, taking in the tableau before him.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here," he asked huskily, before Willow's mind decided enough was enough, and the redhead fainted, a surprised Angel catching her body as it slumped against him.

Xander watched the souled vampire with disinterest as he turned to his Sire. "I think Amy's being playing with portals again. Wills and I were having a bit of fun with Puppy, next thing I know Wills was gone and that" and with a casual wave he indicated the unconscious redhead "appeared instead."

"Hmmm," said the Master, considering the possibilities. "A human Willow, and a virgin by the smell of her. This could be fun."

The two vampires exchanged a smile, then the Master had another thought. "But we can't have Willow roaming around in some other dimension. Not after all the trouble she caused last time. Send someone to get Amy so we can get our Willow back."

"And this one?" Xander asked with a coy look.

"Play with her all you like," said the Master magnanimously. "But don't kill her - or turn her." He laughed softly at Xander's disappointed look, and pulled the younger vampire into a punishing kiss. Pulling his mouth away the Master smiled at Xander's contented purr, and told him firmly, "We don't want to do anything to damage the portal reversal until we've spoken to Amy."

Nodding his agreement, Xander watched his Sire leave then quickly instructed a minion to locate Amy and bring her at once. Then he turned to the couple still huddled on the floor of the cell. "Look Puppy, we've got you a new playmate," he said in a friendly tone, enjoying the look of torment on the souled vampire's face. "Why don't we wake her up so we can get started, hmmmm?"

And with that Xander stalked across the room, pulled the limp form of Willow from Angel's arms and slapped her hard across the face.

Angel winced as the limp girl in his arms banged against him from the force of Xander's blow. He had a throbbing ache in his side; it felt like at least a couple of ribs were broken, and his collarbone was probably fractured as well. He moved the girl in his arms slightly so she wasn't leaning on his sore side, and waited to see what Xander would do next.

He felt apathetic about current events, and he knew that it was mainly because it had been so long since he had fed. It was taking days for his bones to heal up lately - injuries that once would have mended themselves in a matter of hours. Angel knew that soon Xander and Willow would tire of their games and kill him; it was just a question of when, and after several months of almost daily torture sessions from the relentless pair Angel couldn't really find the energy to dread his impending end.

But now, well, something unexpected. The girl in the arms might be the mirror image of Willow, but it was not her. A warm, human girl, brought here as the result of some magic no doubt. Amy and Willow had started to study magic in depth, strongly encouraged by the Master to develop their skills, and the pair had spent a lot of time exploring portals. They had managed to open portals inside the strongholds of the human resistors, and while they couldn't go through the portal without an invitation they could certainly throw in a hand grenade or two.

Willow loved to tell these stories to Angel, to watch his despair as she described in graphic detail the deaths of the few humans who continued to resist the Master's rule. She was a true vampire, Angel mused, one who enjoyed the subtle pleasure of emotional torment as much as the more immediately gratifying torture usually preferred by fledglings. It was very rare for a vampire turned only a few years to have such interests, and one reason Willow was such a favourite with the Master was that she was undoubtedly an unusual vampire - which meant that her human form was probably also an unusual girl. A girl who knew his name.

Angel ruthlessly crushed the feelings of sympathy he felt rising in him for this human, who despite her physical resemblance to Willow was clearly an innocent. He had a pretty good idea what her fate was going to be, and the less emotionally involved he was the better.

All of these thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant, during which time he kept his eyes surreptitiously focused on Xander's face, trying to predict what the young vampire's next move would be. He heard the girl in his arms give a small groan as her hand slowly rose to touch the mark on her face left by Xander's slap, then she stirred and tried to sit up. Xander smiled and bent down, easily lifted the redhead into his arms and moved across the room to the only chair. He sat down with the slowly waking girl held comfortably in his arms.

Willow opened her eyes to see Xander looking down at her. "Xan!" she cried in relief, throwing her arms around his neck as she snuggled closer. She was just about to tell her friend of her strange dream when she realised that the body she was pressed against felt a little cool - and that Xander was wearing leather trousers.

"Xander?" she asked, her voice almost a sob as she pulled back to look at her friend, his smiling brown eyes so well known to her. From the corner of her eye she could see Angel crouched on the floor, completely nude, his body covered in a mosaic of burns, bruises and cuts.

An involuntary sob crossed her lips as she forced herself to realise that it had not been a dream. Whatever spell Anya had done, this was the result. Her mind tried to make some sense of what was going on, but Xander's arms tightening around her waist made her realise that she had better concentrate on getting out of this mess alive, and worry about the magic later.

"Poor Puppy", crooned a familiar voice in her ear. "He looks a bit, well, a bit used, doesn't he?"

The vampire pulled Willow around so she was looking into his face, delighting in the aroma of fear that wafted up to him as the redhead shivered in his arms. Willow had been turned before him, so he'd never really had a chance to enjoy her fully in her human form. [Hmm, a second chance,] he mused, his mind idly wondering how best to enjoy this wonderful opportunity.

Looking at Angel, who was trying without much success to keep his expression neutral, Xander grinned, deliberately showing the human a bit of fang so that she jerked in his arms. Xander immediately rubbed her bottom against him, letting her feel his erection and watched in amusement as her face went bright red.

"Don't worry Wills," he murmured playfully, "all in good time," and with that he carried the now ashen face girl across the room to drop her with a thud next to Angel.

"Look Puppy," he said softly, "a snack." Xander grabbed a handful of Willow's hair and bent her head back, baring her throat to the hungry gaze of the older vampire.

Angel struggled to maintain his human face. This was a favourite game of the pair, to beat him and torture him for days without letting him feed, until he was half crazed with hunger, then to bring a human to him and demand that he feed. To his shame, he usually did. And while he was careful never to drain them, his tormentors made sure those humans never left the cage alive.

Looking into the girl's frightened green eyes, Angel steeled himself to once again try to fight his own nature.

Xander snickered as he saw the familiar expression on Angel's face. "Now, now, Puppy, we don't have time for that today. I've got lots of good stuff planned and I don't want to waste time on this. Come on now, you need your strength, just have a quick sip."

Angel kept his gaze on the floor, resolutely ignoring both his captor's mocking gaze and the sight of the girl's tempting neck.

Xander gave a dramatic sigh. "Well, OK, I guess that means I'll have to bite her. And you know what a messy eater I am. And with such a tasty morsel, who knows if one sip will be enough for me." Xander smiled at the girl's moan and easily held her still as she started belatedly to struggle against his restraining arms.

Willow looked frantically from Xander to Angel, trying to work out what she should do. Making the instant decision that souled Angel had to be the best bet, even as a prisoner, she turned to him and said as steadily as she could manage, "Angel, please, just do it. I trust you to be careful."

Angel looked at the girl in surprise. She trusted him? And since she must have understood their conversation, she seemed to know he was a vampire. He felt his curiosity aroused despite himself, as he watched Xander suggestively lick the girl's throat.

"Last chance Soul Boy," Xander muttered, enjoying the delicious taste of the girl's skin. Maybe he should just bite her himself, he decided, when the decision was taken from his hands as Angel moved forward to take Willow's head in his hand, tilt her head back and sink his fangs delicately into her neck.

Angel felt the wonderful, forbidden pleasure of warm skin against his lips, his teeth sinking through flesh then the ultimate reward, rich warm blood filling his mouth. And not just any blood; this girl was a virgin, and a witch, and the combination of innocence and power in her blood was intoxicating. He had tasted vampire Willow's blood before, and it tasted nothing like this; nothing he had ever tasted, vampire or human, had been this good.

He had to force himself to pull back, careful not to allow himself the luxury of a final lick of the still seeping wounds. He tried to maintain his calm expression; he knew this was going to be bad enough without giving Xander any additional weapons to use against him. Thank heavens that Willow was not here; she was without question the more malicious of the two, and she would no doubt have already noticed Angel's interest in the girl, however much he tried to disguise it.

But even as he formed these thoughts his mind was aware of another sensation; of the blood in his veins working its miracles as his wounded flesh became whole again, and he found himself aware that this time the blood had not been stolen but freely given, given by a girl who knew his name and his nature and still dared to say she trusted him.

"Well," said Xander in a goofy voice that sent chills done the older vampire's spine, "now that we've all been introduced, let's have a bit of fun!"

Willow looked into the face of her best friend, and felt as if her worst nightmares had come true as she saw the demon lurking behind that seemingly friendly gaze. She cast a quick glance over at Angel, noting that a lot of his cuts and bruises seemed to have disappeared, and wondered if there were any way that the pair of them could manage to escape. After all, it was two against one.

Xander watched his captive examining Puppy, and read the fragile hope in her eyes. [This is just too good] he thought gleefully. Rising to his feet swiftly, he picked up the still weakened Angel by his hair and dragged him to the far wall, where a number of manacles were cemented into the wall just above head height.

Angel made a half-hearted effort to struggle, which earnt him a punishing punch to the kidneys from Xander's free hand. As Angel struggled to remain on his feet he was slammed face first into the wall, and he felt his arms being raised above him one at a time and fastened into the manacles. He tried to maintain his composure, but it was hard. He knew what was coming next, and however many times he was tortured it never got any easier. Not just the pain, but the ignominy of being bested by a mere fledge; it revolted both soul and demon.

Xander smiled in appreciation of the sight before him, a master vampire chained to the wall, his back once again smooth, unmarked except for the tattoo, just waiting for Xander to exercise his creative talents. The vampire looked thoughtfully at the human girl who was still sitting on the floor, struggling to fight back her sobs as her supposed rescuer was chained to the wall. He could smell the hint of tears from across the room.

"Don't worry Wills, I haven't forgotten about you. Come over here," he asked softly. When there was no response from the redhead he stalked over to where she was sitting and kicked her hard in the ribs, listening to the familiar sound of bones crunching as Willow screamed. He gave her his goofy grin. "When I ask you to do something, you should just do it. OK?"

Willow hurriedly nodded as she held an arm protectively over her damaged ribs, every breath sending a bolt of red hot pain through her.

Xander walked back to his position next to Angel and beckoned for Willow to join him, which she quickly did, fighting against the nausea that the sudden movement caused. Her neck was throbbing and she felt light-headed; the agony of her ribs like a pulse beat of pain through her body.

"Here's the thing," he continued casually. "Normally Willow, well my Willow, and I play with Puppy together. It's like a bonding thing. It just wouldn't seem right to play with him all by myself. So I figure you can help out."

Willow looked at him blankly, struggling to focus on his conversation and not on the damage done to her body. Xander sighed in amusement. "You know, aren't you meant to be the smart one?" he said with a grin. He walked over to a chest and flung the lid open, rummaging through the contents before returning to Willow with a short whip in his hands. "Now this can be tricky at first. Just watch me."

Xander turned to face Angel, and the whip whistled thought the air as the tip sliced the vampire's back, leaving a thick red welt in its wake. Angel flinched slightly as the whip struck him, but made no sound.

Willow felt her stomach turn as she realised what Xander wanted from her. "I'm not going to whip him," she said flatly.

Xander pouted, and casually struck Angel again, this time from a different angle to form a "X" on the vampire's back.

He paused for a moment to admire the effect, then turned to his unwilling apprentice. "Really? I guess I'll have to find something else to amuse me then. Hey, I know," he said with a cold look, "let's slice off all his fingers!"

Willow looked into the face before her, so well-known and well-loved, and knew he was serious. "It would sure hurt a lot less to have you taking a few turns at him with a whip. But if you don't care about poor Angel's suffering, if you don't want to try to help him..." Xander let his voice trail off. This was really fun!

Willow looked down at the whip in Xander's hand, and over at the silent Angel.

"Can I talk to Angel first?" Willow asked hesitantly. She knew she didn't have much choice, but she needed to know if Angel had any ideas about what they - or rather she - should do.

"Sure," said Xander magnanimously, watching as the girl walked over to stand beside the chained figure. Willow moved slowly, each step reminding her of the pain in her side. Halting beside Angel, she had no idea what to say to him. As she stood there struggling for words, Angel turned his head and looked at her tear stained face.

"Just do what he says," Angel told her quietly.

"I don't want to hurt you," Willow said softly back, seeing the hopeless expression on his face. She suddenly realised that this Angel had given up; he had no more strength left to fight. He was just waiting to die.

Angel looked at the slight form before him, his mark on her neck still slowly leaking blood, her unnatural posture telling him about her injured ribs even if he hadn't heard her bones cracking. He wished he could do something to prevent what was about to happen, but he knew from bitter experience that he could not.

"Don't worry about me, worry about yourself," was his curt reply, and he turned his face away.

Taken aback by his act of rejection, Willow frowned before moving back to stand next to Xander. He reached out to tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear, then handed her the whip, taking a step back to give her plenty of room.

"Start off slow," he advised as he watched the girl hold the whip loosely in her hand. "Tighten up your grip, give him a nice hard whack. Come one," he urged, and finally the redhead lifted the whip in her hand and brought in down on the vampire's back, gasping in pain as the movement aggravated her injuries.

Xander snorted. "C'mon, that didn't even leave a mark." Walking over to the redhead he grabbed her around the waist embracing her tightly as he squeezed on her ribs. Willow screamed at the pain, and fell to the floor as Xander released her.

"Put some effort into it, " he advised coldly, and Willow wiped the tears from her eyes and struggled to her feet. Holding the whip tightly, she turned suddenly and brought it down across Xander's face, and at his roar of outrage she raced for the door to the cage, which was still open.

The door was almost within arm's reach when she felt an arm whip around her throat, pulling her back against a cold, hard body.

"You bitch," a voice snarled in her ear. "You want to play rough? You came to the right place." And with that Xander used his free hand to systematically rip off Willow's clothing, before pushing her naked body towards the wall nest to Angel, where she found herself manacled in a similar position, facing the wall.

Xander was surveying the tempting sight in front of him when he heard footsteps approaching, and turned to see Amy stroll into the cage. "Mmm, this looks like fun," she purred, leaning over to lick at the few drops of blood that the whip had left on Xander's face.

Xander gave the witch a rough kiss before biting playfully at her shoulder, then told her, "We need to have a talk." Looking regretfully at the pair chained to the wall, he told them, "Don't worry, I won't be long, you guys behave yourselves!"

Then he and Amy left, locking the cage door behind them, with no sound in the cage except for Willow's laboured breathing.