With a casual flick of her wrist, Buffy sent the whip slicing through the air to strike Angel across the chest. She watched as a thin line of red appeared in its wake, and smirked at his muted gasp of pain. “Oh did I forget to mention that the whip has razor-sharp slivers of metal woven into the final 12” of its length?”

Mordecai leaned close to Irnhe and motioned towards Buffy. “Watch closely how she wields the whip, as if it were an extension of her arm.” His eyes widened in appreciation as he watched Buffy handle the whip in such a manner as to leave the cuts almost precisely one half inch apart. “Damn she’s gotten better at this…,” he muttered to himself.

Irnhe watched Buffy carefully as she wielded the whip with practiced ease. She admired the way in which an intricate pattern seemed to appear on the vampire’s skin. That is when she noticed something rather… unusual… “Um Milady, is he supposed to be enjoying this?”

Buffy paused and looked over at Irnhe. “Not really. Why do you ask?”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


A brief flare of consternation crossed Spike’s face as a rather unpalatable thought ran through his mind. “One small problem with vamps and physical torture.” Spike glanced over at Methos and sighed. “They tend to enjoy it...,” he muttered.

Methos nodded once to show he understood, but it was Xander who voiced the obvious. “You mean he’s going to get turned on by her using a whip on him?”

“EWWWW! XANDER!” Dawn, Tara and Willow all yelled at once. “That just an icky thought.” Willow continued. All three girls gave a shudder and made ‘ick’ faces.

“As unpalatable as it may be, Spike is quite correct. Vampires as a general rule do tend to enjoy the application of pain, both to give and receive.” Giles said, shaking his head in disbelief at the antics being performed by the girls.

Methos chuckled wryly and said, “Well, I hope he doesn’t become too excited. All it will do is give her a bigger target for the whip.”

Spike let out a roar of laughter, “Not that big of a target, if you get what I mean!” He continued to chuckle as he helped himself to more of the spicy ginger beef.

Methos join in with a chuckle of his own before stating, “Well, it will be even less so by the time she is finished with him.”

Anya listened with a smile on her face. “I had forgotten how nice it is to be around people who don’t mind talking about torturing, maiming and possibility of dismemberment.”

Xander winced and scowled, “Please Ahn! No mention of the removal of parts! Even the thought is too painful to contemplate.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Irnhe motioned towards Angel, who wore a look of pained bliss on his face. “He seems to find this method of punishment… stimulating.”

Buffy rolled her eyes and snorted, “Bloody vampires.” Then she started to giggle and turned to Irnhe. “One would have thought, seeing as he is so damned cocky, that his cock would be bigger that that!” She pointed at Angel’s groin and dissolved into a fit of giggles, accompanied by Irnhe.

Still snickering, Irnhe made an observation. “Maybe he’s just trying to compensate for his inadequacies?” This set the two young women off into another round of giggles.

Mordecai just shook his head at the gigglers and turned to look at Angel, noting the pout that seemed to be forming on the vampires face. “Don’t worry my boy. She won’t forget about you. Consider this a rest break; you are going to need it.”

Angel just glared at the old man and turned his gaze back to Buffy and Irnhe. He couldn’t understand what they found so funny, but he had the feeling that they were making fun of him, for some reason.

Buffy straightened up and turned back to Angel, casually swishing the whip in her hand so it slithered along the ground like a snake. She noticed the pout on his face and smirked. “Are you feeling ignored Angelus?”

“Angel.” He stated, as a frown formed on his face. “I have a soul.”

Buffy laughed derisively. “Do you really think it matters what you call yourself? You are the same now as you were as a human, only worse. You have deluded yourself into the belief that you are above reproach and are better than everyone else.” Buffy shook her head and continued. “The only difference between the human you were, and the vampire you became, is your sun allergy and liquid diet. You were a waste of space then, and are a waste of space now.” With that said Buffy flicked her wrist and laid the whip across Angel’s lower abdomen, causing him to wince and attempt to move away from the pain, only to be stopped by the ropes and the tree. She turned towards Mordecai and raised one delicately shaped eyebrow. “Do you think I should step things up a little? Because this just doesn’t seem to be getting any response from him.”

Mordecai ran an appraising eye over Angel and sighed. “You forget my dear vampires can take more pain than most humans. I believe you will have to do something a little more… drastic… to garner a satisfactory response from him.”

“Well, in that case…” Buffy grinned mischievously, “I have just the thing.” With a practiced flick of her wrist, the whip was coiled at her feet, and she dropped the handle on top of the coils. Buffy removed a wicked-looking dagger from inside the top of her left boot and ran an appraising eye over the edge. “Yes, I think this will do nicely.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Xander glanced back and forth between his girlfriend and the two men who were joking and laughing about what was probably happening to Angel at this very moment when a question ran across his mind and grabbed his attention. “Hey guys, just curious, but what will Buffy do if she finds out that Angel is enjoying whatever she’s doing to him?”

Methos just chuckled darkly and said, “More than likely she’ll abandon that whip of hers for something a little sharper. Depending on the dagger she chooses, it will either cauterize the wounds as she makes them, or make the wounds bleed even more freely.” He shrugged and continued, “Based on what I know about Angelus, she’s probably using her left-hand dagger in a very personal way right about now.”

Anya bounced in her seat. “I’ve always wondered if vampires can regenerate certain body parts…” She trailed off as all of the men shared a look and shuddered in sympathetic pain.