"Where are you parked? You want me to, you know, walk with you? Let me get my shoes on and..."

Willow held up her car keys and jingled them in reassurance. "No Tara, I'm okay." She added a giggle. "The car is just around the corner then I'm Willow on wheels!"

Tara smiled from the doorway. "Okay, be careful. I'll see you tomorrow afternoon and we can try that casting."

"Great! I can't wait. Night." Willow turned around and headed for her car.

The sliver of a dying moon peeking from between the clouds was the only witness to the scene which unfolded beneath it. Willow took a glance up and down the deserted street then stood by her trunk fiddling with her keys....

...Darkness.

"No Tara, I'm okay. The car is just around the corner then I'm Willow on wheels!"

"Okay, be careful. I'll see you tomorrow afternoon and we can try that casting."

"Great! I can't wait. Night."

There had been a noise, something faint that she had chalked up to the wind. She bend down, put the key in the trunk lock and turned it...

...Terror, hurt, can't breath.

"No Tara, I'm okay. The car is just around the corner then I'm Willow on wheels!"

"Okay, be careful. I'll see you tomorrow afternoon and we can try that casting."

"Great! I can't wait. Night."

The trunk opened and she shifted to put her Wicca bag and an armload of books into the compartment. An arm crushing her chest, forcing the air out of her lungs. A bloody hand over her mouth and nose which blocked her breath and drowned her scream with unliving blood.

This time the memory played out, she saw it in her mind as if viewing a movie. The man who had come up behind her in a silent heartbeat. The deadly embrace which knocked her against the edge of open trunk lid, knocking her half unconscious. The slow motion twisting of her head to reveal her neck. The sharp pain as the fangs slid into her throat with such violence that it severed her jugular vein.

Then her senses went from crimson to black as she fell into the abyss.

"Wakey, wakey. Time to get up."

The darkness began to lift, forced away by both a familiar voice and the feel of hands upon her nude body. The cold touch aggressively snaked along her breasts and downward to rake along her sex. First the primal side of her nature awoke and purred under the rough fondling, then her intellect stirred and took offense to the violation.

Willow's eyes snapped open and she instinctively went into full vampire face and attacked the naked figure who sat astride her.

Wesley responded with a backhand which knocked her back onto the bed. "First lesson, as your sire, you will show me some respect."

She screamed in wordless rage as she came up again with the intent of clawing his eyes out.

Wesley grabbed her by the wrists and again forced her back. "Lesson two, you are mine whenever I desire. Which, by the way is... now." His face was a human leer as he pressed his body down hard upon hers, dragging and thrusting the length of his erection through the red curls which covered her mound.

Confusion swirled through Willow as conflicting desires, memories and sensations collided bringing to the fore flashes of raw emotion. She was angry at being held against her will. She both desired and hated this figure upon her as the need to dominate came up hard against the inherent knowledge that she should submit. And above it all she felt a gnawing hunger. With an animal like snarl Willow thrust her body upward not so much as to try to dislodge him but to test her strength against his.

"A wild one." Rita commented from the doorway.

"Without a doubt and I certainly am enjoying the ride." Wesley laughed in response. He worked his knees between Willow's and forced her legs apart. "But it's time to redirect her energies."

Willow snapped and howled as she felt his cock probing for the entrance to her body. Through the frenzy something came back to her, a skill, a wisdom acquired in life. She focused and screamed into Wesley's face the command. "GET OFF".

Even though she was across the room Rita felt the magic as Willow used it to knock Wesley off of her. He hit the footboard dazed but quickly regained both his senses and his game face. "You little witch bitch!" He spit and lunged back toward her as Willow came forward in her own counter attack.

"Willow!"

It was not merely the shout from Mistress Rita that froze the action but also another sound which caused Willow's newborn demon to scream its want. With a open mouthed hiss she turned her attention to the whimpering noise coming from the doorway. All fight drained out of Willow as she saw Rita pull a bound, gagged and blindfolded vessel through the door and roughly lead him toward the bed.

"You want it?" Wesley whispered into Willow's ear as he wrapped his arms around her quivering frame.

Like a hawk Willow eyed her prey as he was brought toward her. "I want it."

At her submission Wesley regained his mortal mask and slid around behind her, pressing up against her back. "If you want it, get on your hands and knees and be a good girl." His hands came around to cup her breasts and he began to coarsely molest them.

Willow mewed at the touch and began to rub and bump her rear up against his hardness but she never took her eyes off the throat of the offered victim.

Rita's cold smile spoke her approval of Wesley's tactics. Sex and blood together would... should, bring this new one into line. She pushed the man onto the bed and held him down. "Take it... you know what to do."

In one motion Willow lunged forward, landing flat across the man and sinking her fangs into his neck. Wesley followed the movement, bringing his hands down her body to lift her buttocks upward. He growled as his fingers searched through the wetness between her legs feeling for the slick opening to the prize. The brutal probing caused Willow to lurch and buck, pounding her rump against his erection which added to his exhilaration. Arching over her he grabbed her thighs and spread her legs farther apart. With a guttural noise he then guided himself up the length of her slit and slammed his length into her.

"Very good." Rita whispered to herself as she backed out of the room. She tarried in the doorway for a minute or two to watch before finally exiting. Quietly she shut the door then nonchalantly strolled over to the figure who sat propped up in the corner of the couch. Closing her eyes she felt for, and found the faint stirrings of the demon within him. She bent forward and stroked his cheek.

"Awake, arise, feel, see, become."

Rupert's hands clenched and unclenched as his demon awakened.

"Awake, arise, feel, see, become." She softly repeated.

The words drew Giles from the velvet blackness into awareness. He unclosed his eyes and quietly took in his surroundings. A sitting room decorated with an Art Deco slant met his gaze. For a brief moment his attention stopped at a closed door from behind which echoed the dual moans and grunts of an enthusiastic coupling. His vision then swept to the figure before him and he remembered her face from that morning. Or was it that morning? Or was it a hundred years ago? With all his strength he fought the rising anger inherent in the newly risen and met the questioning stare of the woman.

"Mistress Rita I presume?" He dryly stated.

Curious to see how this one would rise she only nodded in response.

Giles looked past her toward a figure which lay curled in the corner. "Is that mine?" He asked unable to hide the hunger in his voice and body language.

"Yes, kill it well."

Rupert did not hesitate. With a barely audible hiss he came off the couch and crossed the room in a blink of an eye. Grabbing the woman by one arm he pulled her up, overpowered her useless struggles and without a word bit and fed.

Rita arched an eyebrow at the quiet, focused, shark-like qualities of the attack. Yes, this one seemed to have kept his discipline. Now the big question was, did he remember his training as a Watcher and was his grasp of sorcery still in place?

Without any remorse Giles released the body and let it fall to the floor with a hollow thud. He bend down and began to go through her pockets, searching for what he tasted in her blood. "There we are." He muttered to himself as he found her cigarettes and lighter. Straightening up he curled his lip at the brand and commented before lighting one. "Menthol... oh well, beggars cannot be choosers."

"Are you naturally so sure of yourself or is this a charade to keep me from grinding you down?" Rita questioned as she slinked over to him and wound her fingers in the fabric of his sweatshirt.

Giles took a deep drag and sent his answer through a smoke ring. "I know what is expected of me."

"Quote me chapter and verse."

With a dark laugh Rupert ran his tongue over his disappearing fangs and pulled away from her hold. "Let's see. Upon rising a vampire is occasionally taken in by his or her sire for either the purpose of instruction in the ways of the undead or to be forced into the role of disposable underling." He cocked his head to one side and punctuated his next words with a leisurely flick of ashes onto the body at his feet. "Usually the latter scenario is the case unless the new creature shows promise."

Turning back to her he twisted the corner of his lip up into a smug smile. "Now dear Mistress, if the truth may be told, I know you took Wesley as an acolyte, and I also know I am much better than he." Rupert's eyes narrowed as part of his increasingly devious expression. "So consequently, I immediately elected to control my demon and offer myself in your service." He flicked the cigarette butt into the fireplace and waited on her acceptance of his proposition.

"No. I take only one as my acolyte, only one as my consort and I favor Wesley."

At this blow to his pride Rupert's game face bloomed. "If we were referring to anyone else other than that fuckwit then I would understand..."

"Silence!" Rita commanded, but Rupert, no longer fettered by tact or empathy kept on with his angry words.

"....and accept your choice. But Wyndam-Pryce? Really Mistress, the fact that you would adopt that little, annoying piece of shit as your disciple tells me that your standards are..."

Calling upon the strength born in over 2,000 years of existence Rita took him down. One kick, planted squarely in his chest sent him crashing into and through the bedroom door. Giles spun around and landed face first on the floor. On the bed above Wesley spit out a quick curse, but both his and Willow's impending orgasm swept away his umbrage at this interruption to his pleasure.

Using the edge of the bed to pull himself upright, Giles froze as he found himself face to face with Willow's scream as she came. Behind her Wesley's face contorted as his final thrusts brought him over the edge with a howl.

Enraged at the scene Giles came the rest of the way to his feet, his only objective to break Wesley's neck. "She's mine!" He roared as the memories of his unfulfilled want for this woman came bubbling through the shock.

He had barely began to make his move when Rita was again on him. Her nails cut into the nape of his neck as she seized a handful of shirt and flung him into the wall. "My decisions will NOT be questioned. I gave you the demon and I own you Watcher! You are mine for eternity!" With a panther-like motion she came toward him, threat heavy in her hissing words. "And to you my word is law... cross me again and I will destroy you by inches."

The curse laden response lay stillborn on Rupert's tongue as he saw Wesley leave the bed to assist his Mistress. His mocking smile told Giles that he would only be too happy to be party in thrashing his onetime predecessor into dust.

Only the densest vampire would not realize how thin the ice was and Giles was anything but dense. "My apologies, Mistress." He offered in an even tone. "I overstepped my bounds."

Rita's eyes flashed as she suspected the sincerity of the apology. "Remember what I said." She warned then she reached out and ran her hand down the side of his face. "Change back, only show your demon when feeding or fighting."

Giles glanced over toward Wesley and then back to Rita and it suddenly occurred to him that neither had morphed during the confrontation. He rolled his shoulders and forced his face back to human guise.

"Control." Wesley hissed. "I assumed you had a bid of it in your makeup."

"I have 'control'." Giles snapped.

"That remains to be seen." Wesley shot back. He went over to a straight back chair and tossed Willow her clothes, ordering her to get dressed before he began to pull his own clothing on.

Willow picked up her lavender sweater and ran her fingers over the bloodstain at the collar. "I think it's ruined, what a shame."

"That is not you color anyway." Wesley decided. "We'll get you something decent in a few nights."

"That shade is very becoming on her." Giles countered.

"But 'I' don't think so and that is all that matters." Wesley growled. "One thing you must realize 'Giles' is that I own Willow and as Mistress Rita's consort I also own you."

The words came hissing from Rupert's lips. "You bastard. Miserable little gigolo bastard."

"Oh Mistress...." Wesley said in mock plea. "...please, may I now destroy him?"

"No, my original plan for his duty stays pat." Rita paused for a second observing the faint flicker of displeasure that crossed Wesley's face and then she turned to address Giles. "Providing that you have kept the sorcery which I tasted in your blood."

"The disciplines I perfected in life are still intact." Rupert said flatly as both an answer to Rita and a challenge to Wesley.

"Very good." Rita whispered.

Willow sat on the edge of the bed appraising the scene. She gave the three the same innocent smile that she had in life, which made her words even more corrupt. "Oh well, can we go kill something now?" She reached over and patted the corpse at her side. "This one was no fun, he died too fast, didn't even get to hear him scream 'cause of that tape over his mouth."

"Mine didn't either." Giles said sympathetically as he dug out another cigarette. He lit it and nodded toward Rita. "So Mistress, what 'plans' do you have for me? I do hope it involves paying a call or two on my friends."

"Oh yeah!" Willow squealed. "I want to go see Percy!" She ran her tongue over her lips and cocked her head to one side. "Good old Percy, Percy West... after all I did for him he called me an egghead. I would love to hear him scream. And then I can go find Oz and make him howl."

Rita shook her head. "No, we stay here in Morro Bay until the two of you are strong enough to control your demon. Then if you meet my expectations you will be sent to Los Angeles to work for an old friend of mine, Karl Wolfram."

"Los Angeles." Rupert echoed.

Willow's eyes sparkled as she walked past Giles, rubbing her hand over his chest as she passed. "Coooool! I like the idea of being with Giles. I've always wanted to fuck him." She looked over her shoulder at Wesley and gave a little pout. "That is if my Sire says it's okay."

"I believe there is a facet to your nature we never realized." Wesley said dryly.

"I realized all her facets." Rupert added wickedly.

Rita snapped her fingers to break the rising tension. "That's enough slutting around Willow. I selected the two of you for your magics. You are a natural witch and Rupert is a sorcerer by training and strengthening these skills will be your first priority." She waved a hand toward the sitting room. "Go! Both of you! There is a stack of references on the mantel and I want you to peruse them and decide if your minds can still comprehend the information."

Willow halfway curled her lip. "Shit... even dead I'm research girl."

"Would you rather be 'dust girl'?" Rita snapped.

"Come along Willow... Mistress has spoken." Giles said with a touch of sarcasm. "It's time for us to earn our keep."

Wesley leaned up against the wall and crossed his arms, glaring daggers at the pair as they exited the room closing the door behind them. He made a hissing noise of disgust and opened a small cabinet at his side, pulling out a bottle and two snifters. "A brandy Mistress?" He asked as he poured without waiting for a response.

Rita came over to him and took her glass from his hand. "You're angry."

"Oh not really angry. Merely disappointed."

"Why so?"

Wesley swirled the brandy and took a sip. "I assumed that by this point in time I would be entertaining myself by playing with his entrails." He arched an eyebrow and took another sip. "And that was just an assumption. Then I see with my own eyes that he still remains the arrogant, egotistical, presumptuous bastard he always was... and he still walks out of here. This totally ruins my plans for the evening."

"Faris bin Najib Usamah."

"Pardon?" Wesley asked.

"Faris bin Najib Usamah - The Knight, Son of The Royal Lion." Rita said softly. "He was a Moorish soldier who I turned just for spite. I might have been a vampire but I still hated those who took my country."

She walked over to the thick drapes which covered the sliding glass door to the balcony and pulled them back revealing the bay in the distance. "I lived near the sea then too." Rita murmured before stepping outside.

Wesley nodded and poured himself another inch of brandy before joining her. After four plus months as her apprentice he knew that another lesson was in the offing. He took a couple of steps toward the open door then returned to the cabinet to retrieve the entire bottle before joining her.

"Faris was the commander of the garrison of the fort which guarded the merchant port. He was a tyrant and no one mourned his disappearance. I turned him to torture, to make him suffer endlessly..." Rita turned to Wesley with an evil smile. "...and I did it well."

"That goes without saying." Wesley said with a shrug. "But how does this apply to tonight?"

"Even though I hated the Moors I had to admire his strength. And in that strength I saw the promise of a great soldier to our kind." With one hand Rita held her glass over for a refill while she stroked Wesley's cheek with the other. "Like I see the strength in your former associates. Willow, she is powerful but young. It will take some time for her to learn the lessons of control and patience. And Rupert, he is also powerful but as you said he is quite arrogant." She chuckled under her breath. "Yes, his rising was very interesting. So sure he had the answers, so full of his knowledge of our ways. He reminded me of someone else I know."

Wesley shot her a sour look. "Are you referring to 'me'?"

Rita rolled her eyes. "Could be."

"I was never this bad."

"That depends on the point of view." She laughed, then her mood darkened. "Do you hear what I'm saying?"

"Yes Mistress." Wesley half sighed. "Rupert's asinine nature is a small price to pay for the harvest of his knowledge and abilities."

"Yes." Rita affirmed then she clicked her glass against his. "Now shall we go and begin teaching the newly risen in the ways?"

Wesley half bowed toward his mentor. "Yes Mistress Rita, we shall teach them well."