bal·ance·of·pow·er

"It's worse than we thought," Willow frowned, looking up from the computer screen. "It's been less than 24 hours and he's left a trail of bodies from here to Santa Clarita."

Angel ran his tongue over his teeth, thinking. "How long since the last one?"

"Desk clerk at a motel, about six hours ago."

"He's holed up," Angel said. "He's waiting for me."

"So it's a trap," Andrew said. "You're not going after him, are you?"

"I'm coming with you," Kennedy insisted.

"Yeah, 'cause a Slayer is just what a skittish vampire's gonna want to see coming at him," Connor replied sarcastically. "Dad, I'll come with you."

"I'm going by myself," Angel said, shaking his head. "The rest of you, get to work on the ensouling spell; I'm gonna find him before he does any more damage."

~*~

The motel was swarming with police, which was impressive since he was sure at least half of L.A.'s police force had been wiped out during the almost-apocalypse; Wesley wasn't worried, really. He'd put the woman into the tub and drawn the curtain, and when the police had come to the door with their notebooks and questions he'd told them she was indisposed and they'd been in all evening. The gullible fools had accepted it without further question and given him their card and instructions to call if he saw or heard anything strange. The urge to make them into a meal - a two for one special - was nearly overwhelming, but he managed, barely. The more he fed, the more his hunger grew, and he was growing anxious for Angel's arrival.

"Wes?" About bloody time.

"Angel?" Time to turn it on. "God, Angel, what... what have I done?"

Something was off about Wes; there was no soul there, but he sounded truly regretful. "It's okay, Wes, we'll make it okay."

"I'm so hungry, Angel," Wes said in a small voice. "I feel... like I'll never stop being empty."

You don't play a player, and Angel knew for sure now that Wes was fucking with him. "Wes, you've been quite the busy boy. Eleven," Angel took in a deep whiff, smelling the woman in the bathroom. "No, I'm gonna say twelve people in less than 24 hours. That's a pretty powerful hunger you've got there."

"You would know," Wes pointed out with a snarl. "You made me."

Wes hadn't moved from his seat on the edge of the bed since Angel had let himself into the motel room, and Angel slowly approached. Before he knew what was happening, he was on his back. "Wes -"

"Shut up," Wes said, crushing Angel's mouth under his with a kiss hard enough to draw blood. "Just shut the fuck up."

It was all wrong; it was so wrong, and yet hadn't this been what Angel had wanted, deep down, since the moment a leather-clad demon hunter walked into his life and turned it upside down? Angel obeyed, more from shock than a desire to placate his Childe.

"I know what you want, lover," Wes drawled. "And I'm going to give it to you. I'm going to fuck you until you can't even walk."

"No, Wes, this isn't right -"

Wes smirked. "Oh, the great Angelus is going to tell me about right?" His hands were everywhere, and it didn't seem possible for him to be pinning Angel's wrists and dragging Angel's pants down over his hips at the same time. "That's a fucking laugh." Suddenly Angel was on his stomach, his face - and dear god, his erection, he was getting off on this, what was wrong with him? - pressed into the bargain-basement motel carpet.

"Wes, come on, let's talk about this. You don't want to -"

"Don't fucking tell me what I want," Wes said, and Angel could feel Wesley's cock against his back, as hard as his own and still warm from his latest kill. "You've owned me for years, and now I'm going to own you."

Angel felt a knife being drawn down his back; he hadn't even realized Wes was armed at all until he felt the slim blade slicing his shirt in half and opening a shallow wound in his flesh. Wes drew his fingers through the welling blood and covered his cock with it; with no further preamble or preparation, he was pressing into Angel, the stab of pain and intrusion causing Angel to cry out and - what the hell was wrong with him - his cock to twitch.

"Feels so fucking good, Angel, like I always knew it would," Wes said, and Angel had to remind himself that this wasn't Wes, this was the demon, but did he even care? Wes was moving inside him, and fuck, blood made a terrible lubricant, it burned and stung and felt so damn good.

Wesley's hand snaked around and grasped Angel's cock, pumping him in rhythm to his thrusts. Angel let out a choked sob as he came, tepid ejaculate spilling over the hand that gripped him and the motel room carpet. Wes allowed his face to shift and his fangs sliced into Angel's shoulder; Angel's body shuddered at the sensory overload, and he felt Wesley's entire body go tense, felt him coming hard inside him.

Wesley's laugh was the darkest, most delicious thing Angelus had heard in a long, long time. "Welcome back," he said finally, when his laughter subsided. "How does it feel to be free?" He released the other vampire's wrists and withdrew from inside him.

Angelus snarled, flipping Wesley onto his back. "Nobody tops me, Wesley. Nobody. Not Spike and sure as hell not you."

Wesley raised an eyebrow. "I think you'll find a lot of things have changed since the last time you got to come out and play, Angelus, and the deck is no longer stacked in your favour."

"You," Angelus growled, "are mine. Not the other way around."

"Is that so?" Wes smirked. "Funny, I must have missed that lesson while I was buggering you into the floor."

"Cheek isn't going to win you any points."

"What are you going to do, Angelus, spank me? See how I quiver with fear?"

"No," Angelus said in a voice as calm and cold as death. "I'm going to teach you."

"Oh, are you?"

"Lesson one; I own you." With that, Angelus leaned down and dragged his lips lightly across Wesley's blood-streaked cock, which began to harden again almost immediately. "I don't suck your cock; you suck mine, and you do a good damn job or I beat the shit out of you." He buried his fangs in Wesley's inner right thigh and felt his own cock begin to swell.

Wesley grabbed Angelus by the hair, tearing his face away from his thigh. "Correction; you suck my cock and then maybe I'll suck yours. I know the great Angelus has, shall we say, dominance issues? Let's pretend we're on level ground here; you like the illusion that I can't kick your arse, and I'll let you hang onto that as long as you don't try to pull any power trips." Angelus started to speak, but found himself on his back again. "Nobody's really dominated you since Darla," Wesley purred. "You crave it, even more than you crave blood, and I can give it to you."

Angelus began to laugh. "You're fucked up, Wes."

"Yes, that's true," the younger vampire agreed. "You knew I would be when you made me. You knew I'd be every bit as sadistic and bloodthirsty as you are. There's one thing you didn't count on, though, isn't there? You forget that I was a lot stronger in life than 'Liam' ever was. 'Angel' spent years conditioning me to fight nearly as well as he, without the aid of vampiric strength. If you fuck me, if you take me, it's because I let you, Angelus, let there be no mistake."

~*~

They lay naked atop a small pile of corpses, the last still nearly as warm as life. Angelus stroked his lover's face tenderly. "Callistus," he said softly. All his carnal urges were sated for the moment, and he took the time to admire that which he had created. "Most beautiful. The Order of Aurelius is reborn in us, Callistus, and we will make our names feared."

The younger vampire's lips twitched. "You're getting sentimental in your old age, Angelus," he said fondly. "Callistus; it has a certain ring."

"You were right," Angelus said, sitting up. "The virgin watcher tasted much sweeter than the girls; it's a shame we had to kill the boy, though."

"I could taste his power," Callistus purred, one hand stroking his own stomach idly. "I can feel it in me, still. Where are we headed?"

"Italy, I think. I always did love the night life in Venice, and there's a girl in Rome I'd like to re-introduce you to."