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It was the same way every time. Quiet worship in the beginning, turning to dark lust and angry pleasure. Pure intoxication, each drunk with desire and a need for control. But only one could dominate, and Angel had established long ago that he possessed what he desired - not the other way around.

Angel had been drawn to the scent of his lover's skin, and the spicy heat of the blood beneath, even before it occurred to him to sire Spike. He followed the boy down filthy streets and empty alleys, watching him, thinking of his potential, wondering what it would be like to fuck him. He prolonged the anticipation until he was ravenous, and then he caught his prey, watching the fear fill his eyes, feeding off the terror as much as the blood.

Conquest was, as always, deeply satisfying, visceral and savage. Angel committed each vivid sensation to memory...the wild pulse under his lips, just at the juncture of the neck, smooth and soft. The scrape of sharp teeth down the long jugular vein, the small whimpers and pleading words meant to soothe him. Angel's hunger was strong, and long-delayed, and he savored the sharp burst of ecstasy that filled him as his teeth sank easily into the flesh, linking him forever to this one he'd chosen.

He fed the young man his blood, completing the arc, closing the circle between them forever.

But only one could rule, and he was that one.

Remembrance of that first taking came floating back to Angel, and he pushed it aside, focusing on the naked man sprawled wantonly on the bed before him. Slowly, like a wild animal cornering its prey, he lowered himself over the arching body, eyes locked on Spike's.

Spike's eyes narrowed, and a small smile played about his lips as Angel imprisoned him with his body. But he waited, because the game had rules, and he knew the consequences for violating them.

Angel's lips closed over Spike's with bruising, crushing force, pushing open his mouth to make room for his tongue. Spike drew a harsh, shuddering breath as Angel's fangs broke the skin of his lower lip, and blood welled into both their mouths, to be quickly lapped away by a rough tongue.

Now Spike moved, and his hands caught and clawed at Angel, pulling him closer, shifting his hips up so their cocks rubbed together. Angel gave a sharp growl, and Spike grinned against the pressure of the mouth devouring his own.

Leaving a deceptively soft trail of kisses in his wake, Angel began to descend, stopping to bite at a hard nipple, producing a shout and a shove. In response, he grazed across the muscular torso, leaving bloody scratches behind as he neared his target. He grasped the hands touching him and used them to brace himself, holding them against the bed.

A talented mouth encircled the blood-darkened head of Spike's cock, and a feral smile appeared as spirals of rapture cascaded through Spike's body, made evident by his shivers. Angel took him in by degrees, millimeters at a time. His gaze never left the sight of Spike's head thrown back in abandon, throat working with soundless expressions of pleasure. He set a rhythm, ignoring Spike's cries, and with torturous care he swallowed Spike into that wet, warm mouth, teeth and tongue together demanding his total surrender. Until finally, he came, shouting Angel's name, lost in the oblivion of hopeless lust and possession.

Hands rested on slender hips, turning Spike, and he rose to his knees without thinking, pillowing his head on his folded arms. Angel nudged at his most private opening, but it was nothing he had not willingly given before...it was all he had to give, and it belonged to Angel anyway.

With three long, deep strokes, Angel was inside Spike, eyes closed as the muscles gave way to make room for him. He drove in quickly, hips rotating in an oval, and bright patterns of green stars appeared on the velvet sky inside his mind. A sweet emptiness, as he pulsed inside the tight space, and a chuckle of victory.

Angel pulled out of his lover and stretched out on the bed, drawing Spike into the circle of his arms carelessly. They were both on a path to destruction, and Spike had no choice but to follow Angel down.

But it was going to be a hell of a ride.