The Existence: Sinking Fast

Xander woke with a start and opened his eyes, blinking rapidly. As quietly as possible, he pulled the blanket closer around him, trying not to shiver at the cold of the room and the hard floor beneath him. The room was dark as well, but his eyes had grown accustomed to the lack of light and he could make out the post of the bed beside him and his hand gripping the blanket. Moving his leg slightly, he felt the cold of the chain which kept him fastened to the bedpost. The chain was just long enough to reach the bathroom.

Xander didn't like to think about the first time he had been bound with a much shorter chain. He had pissed himself and his master...Xander shivered, from fear more than cold, at the memories of what Angelus had done to him.

Closing his eyes again, he tried to even his breathing, feeling the ever present hunger clenching his stomach, mingling with the cold to make him feel terrible.

But not terrible enough to try to remedy the situation.

Vaguely he remembered what had awakened him. He had been dreaming of them again, his old friends. They had been in the library, laughing while researching and eating pizza. He could almost smell the aroma of garlic and pepperoni. That was what had awakened him.

Xander hadn't eaten in three days.

Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to go back to sleep. The night would begin soon enough and he'd need all his strength to survive.

Although he wondered, as usual, why he worked so hard at that.

*****

As soon as classes ended, Buffy straggled into the library. She hadn't slept for the second night in a row and was exhausted. The night before, like every night since Xander's disappearance, had been spent patrolling and searching. It didn't seem to matter how many vampires she tortured, none were willing to tell or even knew the location of Angelus' new lair.

Deep inside herself, she knew that her former lover had her friend. Whether Xander was alive, dead or something in between, Buffy needed to know. She needed to find him, to find some closure. They all did.

Willow sat on Oz' lap, crying as she seemed to be doing at least once an hour these days. Oz had been a rock through the whole crisis, quietly taking care of them all, making sure they ate and tried to sleep, helping her search Sunnydale's abandoned buildings and sewers.

As Buffy slumped into a chair at the table and pillowed her head on her arms, she caught a glimpse of Cordelia sitting in Xander's usual chair, staring blankly at a book open before her.

To Buffy's knowledge, Cordelia had yet to cry for her boyfriend's disappearance, and rarely spoke any more. The once sharp tongue was silent. At first, Buffy had taken it for uncaring, but now she knew better. Cordelia was deep in shock, unable to think about any of the possibilities.

Giles had tried to give them hope, telling them over and over that Xander might have simply run away. The school had reported him missing and reported his parents to child welfare. When that had come to light along with the fact that his parents hadn't even bothered to call the police at his disappearance, Willow had haltingly explained to them that Xander's father beat him and his mother was a habitual drug user.

Only Cordelia hadn't been surprised. Xander had always been very good at covering up the truth of his severely dysfunctional family and his own physical and emotional pain.

That knowledge had fueled Giles hope that he had taken off.

But, as Willow often said, that was too coincidental and there was no such thing on the Hellmouth.

Buffy had agreed. Angelus had hurt Xander once to hurt her. It was quite possible he had taken him again. A couple theories had been expounded over the past week.

If Angelus had killed Xander, why not present his body to Buffy? Buffy's theory on that theory had been that the longer he made her wait, the more tormented she would become.

Another theory was that Angelus had turned Xander and was keeping the fledgling under wraps, planning some kind of horrible surprise.

The theory that Xander might be Angelus' live prisoner was the least likely, but the only thing that gave them any hope.

*****

As the sun set, Xander was awakened by a kick in the back. Groaning, he tried to shield his delicate spine from another blow as he scrambled to his knees. Immediately goose bumps rose on his naked skin as the blanket fell to the floor. He kept his eyes downcast, but not so low that he didn't see his master standing by the table.

His ankle had been unchained, so on his hands and knees, Xander crawled forward, no longer really feeling any soreness in his toughened knees. When he reached the table, he rose and leaned across the hard surface, grabbing the far edge so tightly his fingers went numb. He spread his legs as Angelus liked and bit his lip, waiting.

He tried to tune out the sounds of the vampire moving around the room, not wanting to try to guess what was in store for him tonight. Xander's stomach growled and he cursed silently.

"Hungry, boy?"

"Yes master," he answered in his usual soft, empty voice.

"You'll have to earn your dinner."

"Yes master." Xander knew what that meant. He'd be spending part of the evening giving blowjobs to his master's favorites.

Something thin and hard ran across his bruised back and Xander quickly identified it as a cane. He gave a soft sight of relief. The cane rarely broke the skin. He still had scabbed cuts from the bull whip three nights ago.

Suddenly the cane lashed across his raised ass and he bit his lip to hold in the instinctive cry of pain. Another blow fell across his shoulders, and Xander felt one of the scabs break loose and blood ooze out of the lash mark. Squeezing his eyes shut, he dug his fingers into the edge of the table and held on.

The cane fell again and again, lashing him from shoulders to thighs, until the pain grew too much and a cry bubbled from his emotion-tightened throat.

"You know, if you'd cry out sooner, I might stop sooner," Angelus murmured in his ear.

Xander didn't believe him, but was glad to hear the cane hit the floor. The sound of a zipper going down was almost a relief.

Angelus' grip on Xander's bruised ass, made him wince in pain, and he tried to ready himself. The hard cock slamming into him came as no surprise. Xander took a deep, shaking breath, as his master stretched him easily. The ring of muscles was slack from overuse, so there was little pain, other than the chafing of a dry cock.

Xander counted the thrusts. He knew from experience that his master could fuck for over an hour without coming, but he didn't like Xander drifting away, so Xander had started counting, keeping his mind on the abuse.

At least he wasn't hard this time. Sometimes the beatings would arouse him, but the hunger, the lack of sleep, the cold and the pain were taking their toll tonight.

Forty one, forty two, with a roar of pleasure, Angelus came. The cold cum eased the soreness in Xander's anal passage and he let out a deep breath. A hand caught him around the back of the neck and pulled him off the table. Again, Xander dropped his eyes, focusing on his master's naked stomach.

"Not hard?" Angelus made a tsking noise and slid his index finger through the ring that had been pierced into Xander's cock a week before. The vampire tugged and Xander winced, whimpering slightly, wondering, as he often did, if his master would someday simply rip it off. "Attach the chain."

His cock free, Xander stumbled backwards, then dropped to his hands and knees and crawled to the 'toy chest'. Inside was a thin, ten foot long steel chain. Xander attached the clasp to the cock ring, then crawled back to his master to offer him the other end.

As Angelus led him out the door, Xander crawled quickly, not wanting the agony of the chain pulling tight if he fell behind.

In the outer room, his master chained him to his throne, then left, heading towards the kitchen, presumably to feed. Xander cupped his hands over his genitals, his eyes down. A few times, some of the braver or stupider minions had tried to fuck him when Angelus had left him alone. So, he had learned to make himself as small and unobtrusive as possible.

He smelled her before he saw her Drusilla, the only female in the clan. She waltzed over to him and patted him on the head. "Nice puppy. Mummy needs a nice licking," she sang as she lifted her long skirts, baring her neatly trimmed pussy. Pulling his head forward, she rubbed the damp curls over his face. "Lick me."

Xander obeyed, sliding his tongue between her wet, swollen folds to find her erect clit. He lapped it steadily, letting her guide him with her hand on his head.

Whereas the minions would find themselves headless or staked out in the sun for something like this, Drusilla and Spike had been given free reign over him, as long as his master wasn't using him first. Drusilla liked his tongue, liked to call him puppy and pet him.

Spike ignored him, which was fine with Xander. One less cock to suck.

Drusilla began to buck against his mouth, driving his tongue harder against her clit. He tasted her secretions, licking her clean, and heard her moans of pleasure. Tilting his head back, she straddled it, almost sitting on his mouth. Xander sucked quickly and heard her cry out as her body shook in release. He continued to lick her until she backed away and patted him on the head again as her skirt fell back down.

"Good, puppy. Good puppy shall have a treat." From her pocket, she pulled a package of crackers, like the kind that came with a soup at a restaurant. She opened it and held one cracker a few inches above his head. "Beg for it, puppy," she crooned.

"Please, mistress," he begged softly, then opened his mouth. Delicately, as if placing a communion wafer, Drusilla set the cracker on his tongue. Xander ate slowly, savoring the saltiness, then opened his mouth for the second. As she hesitated, he felt his hunger swell and a sinking feeling in his chest, but then she put the cracker in his mouth and he crunched quickly.

Humming to herself, Drusilla strolled away and Xander sank back against the throne. The two crackers had only served to intensify his hunger, but, since dinner wasn't a guarantee, he was happy for them.

Strange that a little thing like two saltines would give him a sense of happiness. But, when your world was one of never ending torment, such little things were the ones you tended to cling to.

End Chapter 1